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GRAINING 



ANCIENT AND MODERN 



BY 

WILLIAM E. WALL 

GRAINER TO THE TRADE; AUTHOR OF 
" PRACTICAL GRAINING " 



IVitb Fifty Illustrations 



SOMERVILLE, MASS., U.S.A. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1905 



•"T 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
T*o Cooies Received 

JAM 2 1906 

Coeyriffht Entry 
CLASS a. XXc. No. 

/ / d 4~ y ¥ 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1905, by 
WILLIAM E. WALL, Somerville, Mass. 



All Rights Reserved. 



NortDoolj i^xtsa 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



f 



PREFACE 

The chief object of the writer of this book is to pro- 
vide instruction for those of our trade, especially young 
men, who desire to become proficient in graining, for in 
these days little opportunity is provided to learn any 
trade in the building line, least of all in the specialty 
of graining. 

A series of articles by the writer entitled " Practical 
Graining" were published in 1889-1890 in the House 
Painting and Decorating Magazine of Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania. They were later issued in book form and have 
been out of print for several years. 

Frequent requests for copies have induced the writer 
to issue the present volume, which will be found to con- 
tain added information on this subject. 

My thanks are due to Mr. James Kay of St. Louis, 
Missouri, for information concerning the antiquity of 
graining; also to The W. J. Dobinson Engraving Co. 
of Boston, for excellent plates; and to The Norwood 
Press for excellence of typography and composition. 

WILLIAM E. WALL. 



CUTS OF MEDALS 



1ST Prize: Diploma Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Associa- 
tion, 1 88 1. 

1ST Prize: World's Fair, Chicago, Bronze Medal, 1893. 

1ST Prize: Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association, Silver 
Medal, 1895. 

1ST Prize: World's Fair, St. Louis, Silver Medal, 1904. 

1ST Prize : Lewis & Clark Centennial, Portland, Oregon, Gold Medal, 
1905. 



CONTENTS 



I. 
II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 



XX. 



PAGE 

Antiquity of Graining i 

Imitations 4 

Eminent Grainers of the Last Century . . 7 

Ground-colors 11 

Graining Colors 16 

Thinners for Oil Colors 17 

Megilp for Oil Color 18 

Tools 20 

Rubbing in Oil Color 21 

Rubbing in Water Color 24 

Combing in Oil Color 25 

Combing in Water Color ..... 29 

Graining Crayons 31 

Wiping out Heart Grains in Oil Color . . 32 

Curly Maple 33 

Bird's-eye Maple . . . . . . -35 

Silver Maple 40 

Whitewood 41 

Satinwood 42 

White Mahogany ' 45 

Ash 46 

Hungarian Ash 51 

Burl Ash 53 

Quartered Oak 54 

Wiping out in Oil Color . . • • -57 

Graining Quartered Oak 5^ 

Fourteen Ways of imitating Quartered Oak . 60 
vii 



Vlll 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

XXI. 



XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 



XXXI. 

XXXII. 
XXXIII. 
XXXIV. 

XXXV. 
XXXVI. 



XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 



XLI. 



PAGE 

English Oak 65 

Pollard Oak 66 

Root of Oak 67 

Heart, or Sap, Oak 67 

Wiping out Heart Grains of Oak ... 69 

Chestnut 71 

White Oregon Cedar 72 

Yellow Pine 74 

Pitch Pine, or Hard Pine 75 

Cypress 'j'j 

Quartered Sycamore 78 

Cherry 81 

Curly Birch 85 

Black Walnut 87 

Crayons for Walnut Graining ... 90 

Curly Walnut 91 

French Walnut Burl 91 

Italian Walnut 93 

Circassian Walnut . . . .* . .93 

Mahogany 94 

Teak 98 

Rosewood 99 

Overgraining lOI 

Ceilings 102 

Floors 104 

Manila Paper for covering a Poor Floor . 106 
Varnishing a Grained Floor . . . .108 
Patent Graining Devices . . . . .108 

Show Panels 11 1 

Graining on Glass 113 

Imitations of Carving 114 

Imitations of Mouldings 114 

Causes of Cracking in Grained Work . .116 



CONTENTS 



IX 



CHAPTER 

XLII. 
XLIII. 
XLIV. 

XLV. 

XLVI. 

XLVII. 



The Grainer in Fiction . 

Graining a Door Quartered Oak 

New Methods . 

Journeymen 

Bicycle for City or Country 

Butternut 




Notes ...... 

Original Poem. (F. A. Hartford) 

Grainers' Association of Boston, Massachusetts, and 
Vicinity 

Index . 



134 
135 



PLATE 1 




1. Stippler. 

2. Large overgrainer. 

3. Short-haired overgrainer. 



TOOLS 

4. Bone comb (for separating bristles 

of overgrainer). 

5. Large mottler. 



6. Small mottler. 

7. Badger blender. 

8. Piped overgrainer. 



ORDER OF PLATES 



Author's Photograph, with 

Signature. Frontispiece. 

Cuts of Medals (5 cuts) : 

Massachusetts Charitable 

Mechanics' Association, 

1895 (2 cuts). 

World's Fair, Chicago, 1893 

(2 cuts). 
World's Fair, St. Louis, 1904 
(i cut). 

N.B. — Gold medal awarded 
Lewis & Clark Centennial, 
Portland, Ore., 1905. 

1. Tools: 

Cut (Photographic) : 

i,stippler; 2,largeover- 
grainer ; 3, short-haired 
overgrainer ; 4, bone comb 
(for separating bristles of 
overgrainer) ; 5, large 
mottler ; 6, small mottler ; 
7, badger blender ; 8, piped 
overgrainer. 

2. Cut: 

I, flat fresco bristle liner; 
2, short-haired liner or fitch 
tool ; 3, sash tool (oval) ; 
4, rubbing-in brush ; 5. 
check roller ; 6. sponge ; 



PLATE 

7, fine steel split comb ; 

8, medium steel comb ; 9, 
medium split steel comb ; 
10, coarse steel comb ; 11, 
selvedge of straw matting ; 
12, rubber comb. 

3. Large Oval Table-top (Com- 

pass Centre). 

4. Smaller Oval Table-top (Card 

Centre). 

5. "Jersey Oak," Cambridge, 

Mass., done in 1845. 

6. Curly Maple — Mottled to 

Overgrain. 

7. Curly Maple — Mottled and 

Overgrained. 

8. Bird's-eye Maple — First Stage. 

9. Bird's - eye Maple — Over- 

grained. 

10. Bird's-eye Maple — Finished. 

11. Whitewood. 

1 2 . Satinwood — Feather Panel. 

13. White Mahogany. 

14. Quartered Sycamore. 

15. Light Ash — Wiped out and 
15 A. Pencilled. 

16. Ash — Hungarian Ash Panel. 

17. Ash — Burl Panel. 

18. Dark Ash. 



ORDER OF PLATES 



PLATE 

19. Chestnut. 

20. How Quartered Oak is Sawed. 

21. Oak — Combed, ready for 

Quartered Veins. 

22. Light Quartered Oak — Over- 

grained. 

23. Light Quartered Oak — Over- 

grained. 

24. Quartered Oak — Dark PaneL 

25. Quartered Oak. 

26. Quartered Oak — in Water 

Color. 

27. Quartered Oak — Light. 

28. Light Quartered Oak. 

29. English Quartered Oak — Pol- 

lard Oak Panel. 
29 A. English Oak — Root of Oak 
Panel. 

30. Dark Quartered Oak. 

31. Dark Quartered Oak. 

32. Dark Quartered Oak. 

33. Heart of Oak — Light. 

34. Dark Heart of Oak. 

35. Cherry — Mottled; ready to 

Overgrain. 

36. Cherry — Mottled and Over- 

grained. 



PLATE 

37. Cherry — Mottled and Over- 

grained. 

38. Butternut. 

39. Cypress. 

40. Curly Birch. 

41. Oregon Cedar. 

42. Yellow Pine. 

43. Pitch Pine, or Hard Pine. 

44. Mahogany — Mottled Panel. 

45. Mahogany — Figured. 

46. Mahogany — Feathered Panel. 
46 A. Mahogany — Feathered 

Panel. 

47. Teak. 

48. Stippling for Walnut or Ma- 

hogany. 

49. Black Walnut — Overgrained. 

50. Curly Walnut. 

5 1 . Black Walnut — Burl Panel. 

52. Italian Walnut. 

53. Circassian Walnut. 

54. Rosewood — First Stage. 
5 5 . Rosewood — Overgrained. 
56. Imitation of Carving. 

Grainers' Association Photo ; 
also, O'Hearn, Hughes, 
and Wall. 



PLATE 2 




TOOLS 



1. Flat fresco bristle liner. 

2. Short-haired liner, or fitch tooL 

3. Sash tool. 

4. Rubbing-in brush. 



5. 


Check roller. 


9, 


Medium split steel comb. 


6. 


Sponge. 


10. 


Coarse steel comb. 


7. 


Fine split steel comb. 


11. 


Selvedge of straw maflin 


8. 


Medium steel comb. 


12. 


Rubber comb. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 



CHAPTER I 

ANTIQUITY OF GRAINING 

RECENT discoveries in Egypt and elsewhere show 
the inherent disposition of the earliest races of man- 
kind to provide themselves with imitations of precious 
stones, etc., but it is not generally known that the ancient 
Egyptians were expert grainers. 

In a book entitled " Museum of Antiquity," a description 
of ancient life three thousand years ago written by L. W. 
Yaggy, M.S., and T. L. Haines, A.M., and published by 
Weaver and Company, in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chi- 
cago, Illinois, in 1882, we read on page 350, — "Carpenters 
and cabinet makers were a numerous class of workmen and 
their occupation forms one of the most important subjects 
in the paintings which represent the Egyptian trades." 
" For ornamental purposes, even sometimes for doors and 
boxes, foreign woods were employed. Deal and cedar 
were imported from Syria, and part of the contributions 
exacted from the conquered tribes of Ethiopia and Asia 
consisted in ebony and other rare woods which were 
annually brought by the chiefs deputed to present their 
countries' tribute to the Egyptian Pharaohs." " Boxes, 
chairs, tables, sofas, etc., were often made of ebony inlaid 
with ivory, sycamore, and acacia veneering, with thin layers 
and carved devices of rare wood added as ornament on 
inferior surfaces ; and a fondness for display induced the 
Egyptians to paint common boards to imitate foreign 



2 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

varieties, so generally practised in other countries at the 
present day. The colors were usually applied on a thin 
coating of stucco or a ground smoothly laid on prepared 
wood, and the various knots and grains made to resemble 
the wood they intended to counterfeit." 

This account would appear to indicate that grainers 
were a professional class of artisans over three thousand 
years ago. 

There is shown in the British Museum in London a bill 
of account several centuries old, for painting and graining 
a room in the Tower of London. 

Undoubtedly, the art of graining came to England from 
Continental Europe several centuries ago, and, without 
doubt, its finest exemplars have been developed in the 
" tight little isle." Their progeny have gone all over the 
world, and wherever they have travelled have " made their 
mark." 

The banishment of the Huguenots from France (a.d. 
1666-1789) and their settlement in England has been 
referred to by some writers as a period when England's 
skilled workmen received a great stimulus, and many of 
the arts and crafts were benefited by recruits added to 
their ranks from these skilled artisans of France. Doubt- 
less there were among them skilful grainers who imparted 
to the trade the impress of their skill ; but I feel sure the 
beginning of graining in England does not date from the 
days of the exodus of the Huguenots from France, but 
that it had existed long before their advent. 

Examples of imitations of wood and marble are said 
to be found in the old cities of Continental Europe, which 
date back for several centuries. As a rule, nearly all the 
ancient graining was done in distemper or water colors, 
and when properly protected, it is in all respects as durable 
as oil colors, and many woods can be more successfully 
imitated in water colors than in oil colors. 

One of the old school of water-color artists of the 



PLATE 3 




GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 3 

eighteenth century, whose name I do not now recall, 
was a great opponent of the school of oil painters. He 
claimed that it was folly to paint pictures in oil colors, as 
the seeds of destruction were sown in every brush of oil 
color which was applied to canvas and in time it would 
certainly crack and destroy itself ; while water-color work, 
which contained no gums or oil varnishes, would remain 
durable for centuries and its colors would remain compara- 
tively unimpaired. 

I have seen water-color graining done sixty-two years 
with but little varnish applied over it (which doubtless was 
its chief salvation) which was in good condition at the end 
of that time. 

The Chinese and Japanese were probably among the 
earliest imitators of wood. I have seen a cheap cabinet 
bought in China, which appeared to be made of fine- 
grained cedar, but which, on careful examination, proved 
to be made of inferior wood covered with very thin rice 
paper on which had been printed an excellent imitation of 
figured cedar-wood. The cabinet was finished without 
varnish, and the effect was similar to that of smoothly 
finished cedar-wood. 

It would be safe to say that such imitations had been 
done by hand or printed for many centuries in both China 
and Japan, 

House painters were among the earliest artisans who 
came to America, and some of them must have possessed 
a knowledge of graining as it was practised in the larger 
cities of Great Britain or Continental Europe ; their de- 
scendants have carried on the work in the larger cities of 
the country, and their numbers have been increased from 
the constant stream of emigrants who have been arriving 
each year. 

OLD-FASHIONED GRAINING 

The panel on the opposite page (Plate 5) is a photo- 
graphic copy of work done in the first High School building, 



4 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1845. It was called "Jersey 
Oak." This work was done in water colors and is a type 
of the average job of that time. Later, in the fifties, the 
advent of several British grainers to Boston, who were 
expert workmen in both oil and water color, showed the 
possibilities of good work and gave the trade a high stand- 
ard of workmanship which has not been wholly lost to this 
day, although all but one of these men have passed to the 
great majority. Between 1850 and i860 there came to 
Boston, Massachusetts, Walter and WiUiam J. McPherson 
of Scotland, William Munro Ross of Scotland, William 
Hopson of England, and James Keleher of Ireland. These 
men all followed graining for the trade, and all were ex- 
pert workmen. Of these, William Hopson alone survives 
and is still graining for the trade. He is the president of 
the Grainers' Association of Boston, Massachusetts, and 
vicinity. 



CHAPTER II 

IMITATIONS 

NICCOLO POUSSIN, the eminent painter, born at 
Audsly, Normandy, in 1594, declares that "Paint- 
ing is an imitation, by means of lines and color on 
some superfices, of anything that can be seen under the 
sun, its end to please, — principles that every man capable 
of reasoning may learn." 

Here is a plain, unvarnished statement from an eminent 
authority directly bearing on the question of imitation, and 
to the ordinary mortal it would appear to be a sensible one. 
If it be true, as the poet Keats wrote, " A thing of beauty 
is a joy forever" (a statement that few will antagonize), 
why condemn a cleverly executed imitation of wood or 
marble, which admittedly is beautiful, on the ground that 



PLATE 4 




GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 5 

it is "false in art," when the best of painted art, according 
to the above authority, is merely an imitation. 

It has often been affirmed that all art is, in a sense, imi- 
tative, and it requires an extremely fine perception to dis- 
cover the dividing line separating the talent required to 
execute a finely grained panel from that required to paint 
a picture. 

Despite all that has been said and written against grain- 
ing, on the ground that it should not be tolerated, being a 
sham and a deception and thus reprehensible, it will always 
find its place in decorative work, and when properly done 
will plead its own cause. 

I have noticed in the last twenty years a growing ten- 
dency on the part of some distinguished Royal Academi- 
cians to make a background of imitation marble one of the 
features of their pictures, especially on large canvases. Is 
it any less artistic to paint in imitation of marble on the 
wall of a staircase than on the canvas of a picture .'' 

We are told that the fault of the painted marble on the 
wall is that its primary intent is to deceive. Admitting 
that, is it any less beautiful? And must we be content 
with plain surfaces of unadorned paint for fear that if we 
grain or marble them, some one may be deceived thereby .-* 

Suppose a lady buys a set of oak furniture for her 
dining room. The table, chairs, and sideboard are made 
of quartered oak ; now if the woodwork of that room has 
been painted white or stained red, or whatever the color 
may be, what treatment will our artistic friends suggest 
that can so well harmonize the woodwork with the oak 
furniture (and possibly the oak floor) as to grain the room 
to correspond with the furniture ? A recent writer says 
to use a scumble or oak-graining color, but to attempt no 
figures on the work. Why not have some suggestion of 
the grain of the wood as well as the color ? The effect of the 
color is to deceive, and is it any worse to add the figures .'' 

A book may be composed of sheets of blank paper, and. 



6 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

as Lord Byron wrote, " A book's a book although there's 
nothing in't." There is an element of romance in grain- 
ing. The oak color alone on a room would be as a book 
of blank paper to the novelist, while the grained room 
would tell a story and either be true to nature or border 
on the romantic, according to the skill and ability of the 
grainer. 

Again, suppose for certain reasons it is found necessary 
to place iron doors and frames in the corridors or halls of 
a building ; if the surrounding woodwork is finished in 
natural wood, how will we manage to make the iron doors 
correspond with the other doors and the adjacent wood- 
work in any other manner so well as by properly graining 
them? Must we paint them black or a "wood color" 
because, being made of iron, it would be "false in art" to 
make them appear as wood ? 

There are things often seen in architecture that are as 
false as graining. This would not justify the use of grain- 
ing; but some of its critics forget their own shortcomings 
in their haste to follow the rules laid down by their teach- 
ers, and condemn graining because it is " false." 

The near future may bring us doors made of wood-pulp, 
compressed, and with all panels, mouldings, etc. in one 
piece. According to our artistic friends it would be wrong 
to paint these doors in imitation of wood. Yet I believe 
that such doors will be made and many of them will be 
grained. 



PLATE 5 



'* il 










•• JERSEY OAK " 
Done in Cambridge, Mass., 1845. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 7 

CHAPTER III 

EMINENT GRAINERS OF THE LAST CENTURY 

AMONG the earliest of the celebrated grainers of the 
last century who have passed to their reward, perhaps 
it would be well to mention Hay of Edinburgh as 
among the first. He was an artist in his day and genera- 
tion, and brought the art of graining to a high plane. He 
is reputed to be the inventor of steel graining combs. 
Leather and horn had been previously used. He was an 
all-round artist, and decorated some of the finest buildings 
in Scotland, My respected friend, the late John Smith, a 
trade grainer of New York City and an excellent workman, 
having served his time in Edinburgh and later worked in 
some of the best shops in London, wrote me the following 
anecdote of Hay. 

It seems that Abbotsford, the residence of Sir Waiter 
Scott, was being decorated by Hay (probably between 
181 5 and 1825). I will give Mr. Smith's own words: 
" Hay of Edinburgh, where McPherson of Boston served 
his time, was perhaps the most scientific painter that Scot- 
land ever produced. He was Sir Walter Scott's painter 
when the latter was in the height of his fame. You may 
have heard the story of him and Scott. Hay had painted 
the library at Abbotsford, ceilings and walls, etc., in imita- 
tion of oak, to match the bookcases, but before Scott came 
home he gave the walls a coat of kalsomine. Everything 
pleased Scott except the library walls, but perhaps he could 
suggest nothing better. Hay suggested making them to 
match the woodwork and bookcases — just the idea — so 
when the " Wizard " was gone, the kalsomine was washed 
off, and in the morning Scott was astonished, and when it 
was explained to him, he said it was as good as anything in 
his books." 



8 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

Apprentices of Hay's were as a rule excellent workmen, 
and many of them were known as artists in their profes- 
sion in whatever portion of the world they had settled. 
The late WiUiam J. McPherson of Boston, and his brother 
Walter, both of whom were grainers to the trade in Boston, 
Massachusetts, in 1854, were graduated from Hay's shop. 

Bennett and Bogle of Glasgow were known as excellent 
grainers and marblers. The late William Munro Ross, a 
trade grainer of Boston, who died in 1878, and an artist 
of no mean ability, was one of their apprentices. His son, 
William M. Ross, also an expert trade grainer, died March 
2, 1905. The firm of J. B. Bennett and Sons, successors 
of Bennett and Bogle, is still known for the excellence of 
its work in the specialties of graining and marbUng. 

Undoubtedly the late Thomas Kershaw of London, Eng- 
land (born at Standish, near Wigan, Lancashire, in 1819, 
died at London, 1898), has done more for graining than 
any one man of modei^n times by bringing it to the atten- 
tion of inteUigent people as a pleasing form of decorative 
art ; and by his exhibitions of graining and marbUng at the 
first great exhibitions of the world's industries in London, 
185 1, Paris, 1855, and London, 1862, he exemplified to the 
world that such work was worthy of a place in the most 
artistic residences. Mr. Kershaw, when but twelve years 
of age, was apprenticed for nine years to Mr. John Piatt of 
Hall Street, Bolton, Lancashire, his father paying ^ 23 
(or ^115), a large sum in those days, for the privilege 
of having his son taught the mysteries of painting and 
decorating. No eight-hour law was in force in those days, 
and it is said that after working for ten or more hours a 
day for his master at such drudgery as the apprentice of 
his time had to do, he found time to work two, three, or 
four hours extra in his own room, studying the grains of 
woods and endeavoring to successfully imitate them, and 
so well did he succeed that long before his apprenticeship 
expired his fame as a skilful grainer had reached beyond 
his own shire. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 9 

His example should be an incentive to all young work- 
men who aspire to be grainers. Study the w^^<^. Imitate 
no man's work. In a letter to me, written by Mr. Ker- 
shaw in 1893, he says : — 

" I never studied another man's work or his method of 
working. I went direct to nature. She has been my only 
schoolmaster, and anything in the shape of woods and 
marbles this side of Heaven or the other place I deter- 
mined to tackle and make a business of it, but for the last 
thirty-eight years left it off and commenced house paint- 
ing, having served nine years to the trade I felt more 
entitled to this than a lot of counter-jumpers who are not 
practical except in lying. I find your prices for graining 
are reasonable and compare favorably with prices here for 
ordinary work, and if you work at high pressure, steam- 
engine rate, you should earn good money. Grainers 
nowadays work with their coat on and take life much 
easier than in my graining days. I will not say what I 
used to do, you would not believe it. Should you ever 
come, I will tell you that I found no royal road to fame. 
If you are an enthusiast, full of energy, take a trip to this 
small city, call upon me, and I will show you a large room 
full of specimens of my own work done before you were 
born. I received the Painter's Magazine you sent me and 
am much obliged. 

" From yours truly, 

"Thomas Kershaw." 

Mr. Kershaw was awarded medals at the London Exhi- 
bition of 185 1, Paris, 1855, London, 1862, and in i860 the 
Painters-Stainers Company gave him the freedom of the 
city of London, an honor seldom conferred upon a prac- 
tical grainer and marbler. Let us hope that the youth of 
to-day will by persistent efforts strive to attain the heights 
he succeeded in scaling. 

The late Mr. John Taylor, of Birmingham, England, was 



lO GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

a keen rival of his elder contemporary, Thomas Kershaw, 
and I have heard it stated by men competent to judge that 
Mr. Taylor's marble panels excelled those of Mr. Kershaw. 
Both men worked from natural woods and marbles and 
cut out new paths in methods and tools, and each in his 
way was known and respected for his ability in the three 
kingdoms. Mr. Taylor was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 
1830, and died in Birmingham in 1901. He was early 
apprenticed to the painter's trade. In serving his time he 
worked at scene painting, and later, on reaching London, 
he worked for the trade as a grainer and marbler. He 
received medals for his work at the great exhibition, Lon- 
don, 185 1, 1862, 1870, and in Paris, 1887, and in 1898 was 
given the freedom of the city of London. He settled in 
Birmingham in i860 and did much for the artistic welfare 
of that town. He was a skilful picture painter and a 
member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. 
His work had been'hung and sold in the London Academy 
and in other large cities. 

A friend of mine competent to judge assured me that 
the mantle of Kershaw had fallen on Taylor, and I doubt 
not that at the time of his death he was considered the 
greatest exponent of graining and marbling in the United 
Kingdom. 

Would that the best grainers of this century would emu- 
late their example and give ocular evidence wherever 
opportunity offers that skilful graining is not wholly a lost 
art. An object lesson in graining done by an expert is 
more convincing to the beholder as to the decorative possi- 
bilities than all the arguments that are arrayed against it. 

Doubtless any of the larger cities of Great Britain or 
Ireland in the years from 1850 onward possessed skilful 
and accomplished workmen as grainers and marblers. I 
have heard personally of many such, but the names of 
Kershaw and Taylor deserve special recognition, because 
from youth to mature age they never failed to champion 





LIGHT OAK. 



GROUNDS FOR GRAiNiNG 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN n 

the cause of skilful graining, and at no small expense to 
themselves prepared and exhibited to the public such won- 
derful imitations of wood and marble as justly to gain for 
themselves the title of artists in their chosen calling. 

Their work also acted as a stimulus to the efforts of 
those who were faithfully endeavoring to imitate nature in 
this special direction, however feebly ; hence the merit of 
their work had a twofold value : beautiful to the beholder 
in or out of the trade, and especially stimulating to those 
within the trade, as it revealed the possibilities of the art ; 
" for whatever man has done, man may do," and the hum- 
blest of us can be helped and encouraged by the work of 
men whose God-given skill we may never hope to fully 
attain. 



CHAPTER IV 

GROUND-COLORS 

ONE of the first essentials for a successful imitation 
of wood is that the ground-color, or foundation on 
which the graining is applied, should be similar in 
color to the wood it is desired to represent. 

Too little care is given to this feature of the work. The 
grainer is often asked to do dark oak on a light oak ground- 
color. Many an excellent piece of work has been rendered 
ineffective by the use of a ground-color unsuited to the 
wood to be represented. 

So strong is tradition that excellent workmen will often 
adhere to a color scheme which could be vastly improved, 
simply because in their early years they were shown by 
their m.asters that certain colors and proportions must be 
used to prepare ground-colors for graining certain woods. 

These remarks are not made to condemn the work of 
the older school of painters or grainers, but it is a fact that 



12 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

few of these men saw good examples of the wood they 
were asked to represent and hence were liable to mistake 
in preparing the ground-color. 

Undoubtedly the first requisite for good work is a properly 
mixed and properly -applied ground-color! Without this 
it is impossible to produce a good job. The professional 
or trade graincr is frequently asked to " do a good job " 
on a ground-color that makes good work impossible. The 
primary principle, the shade or tone of the ground-color, 
has been neglected. It is extremely difficult for the most 
expert grainer to even approach the color of the wood in 
his work unless some effort has been made to have the 
ground-color similar in tone to the lightest part of the wood 
to be represented ; yet many painters pay little attention 
to this feature of the work and then blame the grainer for 
an imperfect job. 

One general principle for preparing ground-colors may 
safely be laid down for any sort of wood : the color of the 
ground should be similar in tone and, if anything, slightly 
lighter than the lightest color to be seen in the wood it is 
desired to represent — not the unfinished wood, but wood 
iilled, shellacked or varnished, and finished. 

In matching the doors of a room to the standing finish of 
natural wood it would be better to first complete the stand- 
ing finish, or at least up to the last coat of shellac or var- 
nish, before graining the doors. Then remember that, as 
a rule, the grained work on interiors of dwellings often 
retains its original color for years, while the natural wood 
invariably turns darker by absorbing the oil from the var- 
nish and by exposure to light and air. 

It is not uncommon to see grained doors which, when 
first done, matched fairly well in color with the natural- 
wood finish by which they were surrounded, but when 
done for a dozen or more years, they frequently appear 
several shades lighter than the natural wood, for the 
reasons above stated. Bearing this in mind, it is wise to 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 13 

have the color of the grained doors, when finished, sHghtly 
darker rather than lighter than the wood to be matched. 
On outside exposure nearly all hard wood turns dark, es- 
pecially if it receives frequent coats of oil or varnish. 

If the work to be done is on new wood and the wood is 
clear white pine, spruce, or whitewood, the work may be 
prepared for light graining by giving it two thin coats of 
white shellac ; or a coat of white glue-size may be given 
it, although it is not recommended, as it raises the grain of 
the wood and can only be used successfully where the 
graining is to be done in oil colors, as the glue-size would 
soften up and mix with the water-graining color, thus 
allowing no proper foundation for the work. 

In preparing the ground-colors for graining use nothing 
but the best of finely ground white lead and colors ground 
in linseed oil. Any time or trouble expended in the care- 
ful preparation of the groundwork is amply repaid in the 
improved appearance of the finished work, and good work 
cannot be done without pains being taken at each stage of 
its progress. After mixing the color it should always be 
strained through fine muslin. The manner of thinning 
the ground-color will depend on the condition of the work. 
If the wood is new, only a small amount of turpentine will 
be required in the color for the first coat. Such work 
ought to receive three thin coats, but as a rule it is 
prepared with two coats on ordinary work. Always use 
plenty of dryer in the priming coat. The second and 
third coats should be thinned with not more than one part 
linseed oil to three parts spirits turpentine. If a little 
good varnish is added, it helps to harden the work and 
leave it in better condition for graining. 

If the work is to be done over old paint, a thorough 
sandpapering is necessary. If the old work is badly 
cracked or chipped, all the old paint should first be re- 
moved ; it costs a little more in the beginning to do this, 
but it is worth while in the end. 



14 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

There are many patent removers in the market, but the 
old-fashioned compound of lime and soda will often remove 
anything of an elastic nature, but for old hard paint it is 
not sufficiently caustic. Beware of removers having either 
bisulphide of carbon or wood alcohol in their formula, as 
both are dangerous to health. 

The burning lamp or torch if carefully used is often 
quite effective in removing old paint, and it has the merit 
of leaving the work ready for the brush after sand- 
papering. 

In case the paint is removed by the torch the thinners 
for the priming coat should be about one-half raw linseed 
oil and one-half spirits of turpentine with plenty of dryer, 
as the torch will have drawn out most of the sap from the 
wood, leaving it very dry. The excess of turpentine in the 
priming coat is more likely to be drawn into the wood. 
Too much oil might cause trouble later. 

If old work is to be repainted and grained without re- 
moving the old paint, it should first receive a thorough 
washing with a weak solution of washing soda — about 
one pound of crystals of soda to three gallons of water. 
Rinse off this solution with clean water to which has been 
added one-half pint of vinegar to the gallon. This will 
neutralize the action of the soda if any should be left on 
the work. 

Sometimes a job is done on one coat of groundwork 
over old paint or old graining, but it is unwise to do this. 
If it must be done, first touch up all bare places, dents, 
bruises, etc., with quick color mixed rather thin, and in 
applying the ground-color don't try to put on too much 
paint at once. 

The grainer would rather have a smooth surface fairly 
well covered than a rough, ropy one, however well covered. 
Then again ropy or rough groundworks always show up 
very badly after the varnish has been applied. Don't 
forget that smooth work cannot be done unless care is 




YELLOW PINE. 




ROSEWOOD. 



GROUNDS FOR GRAINING. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 15 

taken with each coat and sandpaper has been used between 
coats. 

It is customary for the grainer to Hghtly sandpaper the 
ground-work before applying his color ; but on very light 
work this must be very carefully done or omitted altogether, 
for if any scratches are made in the ground-color, they will 
show in the finished work on such light colors as maple, 
satin wood, etc. 

The use of red lead is recommended for mixture with 
dark ground-colors where the old paint is not removed. 
It helps to bind the color more firmly to the old paint. 
The color should be kept stirred to prevent settling. 

In some cases a badly cracked foundation can be helped 
by using color thinned, about half hnseed oil and half 
spirits of turpentine with plenty of dryer added. Thicken 
this color with bolted whiting and after coating in a panel 
rub it with a block of pumice-stone which has been faced 
smooth on one side with an old rasp. Draw the pumice- 
stone down the panels after having thoroughly rubbed to 
the work. This will leave the crevices and cracks filled 
wdth the thick paint and fine particles of pumice-stone. It 
also helps to amalgamate the new paint with the old. Do 
not use the brush to smooth up, as it will draw the paint 
out of the cracks. Use a scraping knife and leave all the 
color you can in the cracks. When the work has dried 
thoroughly, sandpaper and apply two coats of ground- 
color mixed in the ordinary way. For a hurried job this 
method will be found useful. 

Many of the washable distemper paints are recommended 
by their makers as being suitable for groundworks for 
graining ; but their use is not recommended, as they often 
contain soda or other alkaline matter that is destructive to all 
subsequent coatings of oil color, both graining and varnish. 
Then again, if moisture attacks the work from beneath, it 
is likely to cause the water-color paint to loose its hold and 
force it and all succeeding coats awav from the wood. 



l6 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

CHAPTER V 

GRAINING COLORS 

AFTER many years of careful investigation the writer 
has for several years used only the finest dry colors in 
mixing his graining color. (Burnt sienna, Vandyke 
brown, and black are excepted.) There are several reasons 
for this. First, he can use his own formula for mixing the 
proportions of each color. The adulteration of dry colors 
can be more readily ascertained than if the colors were 
ground in oil, and a recent advertisement declares that 
colors can be ground dry as fine or finer than in oil. Then 
the color is never fatty nor are there ever any skins of color 
in the pot. If there are any coarse particles in the color, 
they are deposited in the bottom of the pot. Another 
advantage is that 'the work can be done in either oil or 
water color from the same base. The mixture of the vari- 
ous dry colors being carried in one receptacle, where the 
work is largely of one kind of wood the prepared color 
has only to be thinned to be made instantly ready for use. 
If cheapness were to be considered, this also would recom- 
mend this method. But it is not for this reason that the 
writer has adopted this plan, but chiefly because he can 
readily ascertain the purity of his colors, knowing that they 
are not ground in fish oil nor petroleum, and he can pro- 
duce certain mechanical effects by their use that are not so 
readily obtained where colors ground in oil are used. 

The reasons for using burnt sienna, Vandyke brown, and 
black, ground in oil or in water, are that the first two are 
naturally gritty and require grinding and the latter is in 
more compact form as well as being smoother from 
being ground in oil. A trifle of dryer is usually added in 
grinding it, so that it dries more readily than if not ground 
in oil. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 17 

CHAPTER VI 

THINNERS FOR OIL COLORS 

IN referring to thinners hereafter for oil colors, we make 
a compound as follows : Two-fifths of a gallon of raw lin- 
seed oil, three-fifths of a gallon of spirits turpentine. 
Add to this one-half pint good liquid dryer and about two- 
thirds of an ounce of yellow beeswax. Cut the wax into 
shavings and melt in a tin can over a gas jet or on the fire. 
When the wax is melted, take from the fire and add slowly 
about one pint of turpentine and pour while warm into 
the thinners previously mixed. 

The beeswax may be dissolved without heat by cutting 
it into shavings and placing it in a wide-mouthed bottle. 
Fill two-thirds of the bottle with turpentine, and allow it to 
stand over night in a warm room. A few violent shakes 
of the bottle in the morning will complete the dissolution 
of the wax. It can then be added to the thinners and the 
whole well shaken up. Care must be taken in cold weather 
to have the wax completely dissolved in the color, so that it 
will not float on the top of the pot, otherwise it will cause 
serious trouble and retard the drying of the color for an 
indefinite period. 

On new work, as a rule, slightly more oil is necessary 
than on old work, and for walnut or cherry in oil less oil is 
required than for oak or ash. 

Thinners for water colors may be clear water (if the 
colors are ground in any binding medium) or one-third to 
one-half stale beer to two-thirds or one-half clear water. 
If beer cannot be obtained, one-third vinegar to two-thirds 
water, adding a little sugar, will make a good thinner, or 
you can use skimmed milk. As a rule too much beer is 
used in the color, and strong beer is likely to cause cracking 
of the varnish. 



1 8 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

CHAPTER VII 

MEGILP FOR OIL COLOR 

IN imitating many woods, especially in oil color, we 
need something more than the colors and thinners to 
prevent the work from flowing together after being 
combed or wiped out ; also in water color to prevent the 
color from drying too quickly. Such preparations are known 
as megilp. They alter the density of the color without alter- 
ing its shade and allow the combed or wiped-out work to 
remain just as you leave it. As a rule too much megilp is 
used and it causes the work to look stringy or ropy. For 
many kinds of work, where too much oil is not used, we can 
dispense with megilp altogether, especially if we use finely 
prepared dry colors. An extra quantity of dryers acts as a 
megilp. In my opinion it is unwise to use more than one 
ounce of megilp to the gallon of oil color, and it should 
always be added to the color while warm, after being 
dissolved in turpentine. 

In a book entitled " The Painter's and Glazier's Guide " by 
Whittock, published in London, England, in 1832, a recipe 
is given for megilp for graining color which seems to have 
been a standard, as I have seen similar recipes in later 
publications. The formula is this : " Take eight ounces of 
sugar of lead and eight ounces of rotten-stone, grind them 
together as stiffly as possible in linseed oil ; then take six- 
teen ounces of white beeswax, melt it gradually in an 
earthen pipkin, and when it is fluid, pour in eight ounces 
of spirits of turpentine ; mix this well with the wax, and 
then pour the contents of the pipkin on the grinding stone 
to get cold. When cold, grind the rotten-stone and sugar 
of lead with the wax and turpentine, and it will form an 
excellent megilp, which if kept in a jar with a mouth wide 
enough to admit a pallet knife, and well secured from 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 19 

dust, will keep almost any length of time and always be fit 
for use. When any of the megilp is required, take out a 
little at a time with the pallet knife, and if it is too stiff, 
soften it with a little boiled oil." 

It is doubtful if many of our modern workmen go to 
the pains of preparing their megilp in such a thorough 
manner, yet it is worth while to do so. The grinding into 
the megilp of the sugar of lead as a dryer is an excellent 
plan, the beeswax being a very slow dryer, and often when 
added to graining color in cold weather it curdles and floats 
on the surface, and if not thoroughly incorporated with the 
graining color will seriously retard the hardening and dry- 
ing of the work. 

MEGILP FOR WATER COLOR 

When the color dries too quickly or is not sufficiently 
thick for special work, it may be megilped or thickened and 
its drying retarded by a solution of soap, wax, and turpen- 
tine ground in beer and added to the color. Use very 
sparingly in the graining color, as it clogs up the tools and 
has little virtue except to allow opportunity for combing, 
on account of drying much more slowly than the beer and 
water vehicle ordinarily used ; one-half ounce of soap 
cut into shavings and dissolved in one-half pint of hot 
water, one-half ounce of wax cut into shavings and dissolved 
in one-half pint of hot water and one pint of stale beer, 
may be mixed together on a grinding slab a little at a 
time and kept in a wide-mouthed bottle tightly corked. The 
mixing may be accomplished by heating the beer, and after 
pouring the hot water and wax into the hot soap and 
water and thoroughly shaking, add the hot beer to the 
mixture and continue shaking until all the ingredients are 
thoroughl)^ incorporated ; when cool it ought to assume a 
jellylike consistency. Care must be taken that it does not 
rub up in varnishing ; try several experiments with it before 
you adopt it for regular use. 



20 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

CHAPTER VIII 

TOOLS 

IT is astonishing how few tools are used by some of the 
most experienced grainers to produce the results which 
are apparent in their work. A few old combs, a piece 
of rag, and the necessary brushes, colors, and thinners are 
all that they require to do most excellent work. The first 
requisite is undoubtedly the natural ability to transmit to 
the painted work the true figure of the wood they desire 
to represent. There can be no doubt, however, that good 
tools, and many of them, allow the beginner better scope 
and assist him to produce better effects than without their 
aid. The adjacent pages will show illustrations of all the 
tools necessary to imitate any ordinary wood. 

The rubber eomb is made from a piece of rubber with 
cloth backing, which can be purchased at any shoe-find- 
ings house. It is made to apply to the soles of rubber 
boots. It is sold by the pound, and one pound will make 
four or five combs. 

The selvedge of a piece of straw matting makes an 
excellent fine comb if cleanly cut on the ends. It will do 
moulded work most effectively on account of its flexibility. 

The steel combs are generally made in Sheffield, Eng- 
land, and are often given special treatment by the grainer, 
as shown in the illustration. 

The check roller was invented by William Jones of 
Manchester, England, and is very effective in transferring 
an imitation of the pores of the wood which have been 
filled dark. On the lighter shades of oak it is seldom 
necessary to use a check roller ; the color is transferred 
from a brush held over the zinc disks, the roller being 
pushed forward. 

The long-handled pencil brush is used for putting in 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 2 1 

heart grains as well as quartered grains. The other fitch 
tools and sash tool are used for smaller work. 

WATER-COLOR KIT 

The sponge and rubbing-in brush play important parts 
in this process. The long-haired stippler is used chiefly 
for walnut and mahogany. The mottlers, blender, etc. 
are for use in maple, mahogany, walnut, etc. The over- 
grainers are the last tools used in either oil or water 
colors. 

Combs made of cork are sometimes used for oil grain- 
ing, and they do excellent work ; the teeth may be notched 
on the edge of the comb, or they may be cut through as 
shown in the rubber comb. If notched teeth are used, the 
comb must carefully be held at the proper angle, so that 
the color is divided by the notched teeth. 



CHAPTER IX 

RUBBING IN OIL COLOR 

JUST why the application of the graining color is called 
"rubbing in " it is difficult to determine. Possibly in 
the early days of oil colors the graining color was 
mixed so thick as to require a great deal of " elbow-grease" 
to spread it on the work, and hence the name rubbing in. 

After the oil color has been properly mixed, a proper 
brush is carefully worked into the color by being dipped 
deep into the pot and scraped on the edge of a hard-wood 
stick which is kept in the pot to stir the color. 

A flat brush or a good oval one is preferable to a round 
brush. The bristles should be three to four inches in 
length, and with such a brush several panels may be done 
at one dip. A sash tool is often necessary, but it is a loss 



22 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

of time to do work with a sash tool that can be done with 
greater ease and more despatch with the larger brush. 
The professional " rubber in " rarely has a sash tool in his 
hand. Life is too short to do edges of doors and frames 
with a sash tool when the large brush will do them equally 
well. An edge-to-paper can be cut as successfully with a 
proper flat brush as with any sash tool, and with greater 
command of the brush. Your hand is less liable to slip 
with the large brush than with the smaller one. 

The average painter who rubs in for a grainer seems 
afraid to dip his brush into the color more than one-half 
an inch, while the old hand takes pains to take a " full dip," 
so that his brush will not dry up in the heel and will be 
more flexible than if the heel of the brush is kept dry. 
Where a whole room is to be rubbed in, it is needless to 
take half a dozen dips to rub in a door side if it can as 
easily be done in two or three. 

In rubbing in -the graining color on an ordinary door 
side we first take a good dip of the color in the flat brush 
and apply it to the mouldings of the upper panels of the 
doors. If there is still plenty of color in the brush, do the 
edges of the door and the mouldings of the lower panels, 
then go back to the upper panels and finish them, taking 
up any surplus color from the mouldings which were done 
with the full brush. Never take a second dip while there 
is color in the brush. Two, or at most three, dips ought 
to suffice for an ordinary 2 ft. 8 x 6 ft. 8 door. 

In rubbing in the tops of doors or frames do not carry 
up the pot on the step-ladder. It is better to avoid the 
risk of upsetting it, and a yard square of work can be done 
with one dip if necessary. Some grainers prefer to have 
two rubbing-in brushes, an old one and one just well 
broken in. By taking a dip in each a lot of time is saved 
and the color can be applied on the tops of doors, casings, 
etc., without so frequently returning to the pot. 

Graining color is spread more with the sides of the brush 



PRACTICAL GRAINING 



23 



than with the ends. Many men use the rubbing-in brush as 
a scrubbing brush should be used, wearing the brush 
away on the ends of the bristles. If the color is properly 
mixed, its appHcation is not a difficult task unless there is 
an improperly prepared ground-color to work on. Allow 
the arm free play. In rubbing in a piece of sheathing 
running horizontally, a yard or more in length of each 
board ought to be done and care taken to show no laps on 
the work. One dip ought to rub in several boards. 

The full brush should be applied to mouldings so as to 
thoroughly cover all crevices. The surplus color can easily 
be removed with the dry brush later on. No man who 
is a careful workman will, after taking a dip, draw his 
brush over the edge of his pot to remove the surplus color. 
One or two taps of the brush against the inside of the pot 
will remove the surplus color more quickly and effectively 
without leaving streams of color on the outside and inside 
of the pot or spatters of color on the floor. The same 
rule holds good for all kinds of painting, but particularly to 
color or varnish that is very thin. Neatness of person and 
cleanliness of work often go together. 

Unless the color is properly applied the grainer is handi- 
capped in no small degree. It is a mistake to suppose 
that any one can apply the graining color. It takes years 
of practice to do this successfully and rapidly. Old 
grainers have a saying that none but a grainer can properly 
rub in for a grainer. It is amusing to watch the struggles of 
the amateur in his attempt to apply the color evenly. He 
often gets enough color on his brush to rub in several 
panels, but he tries to make this amount of color appear 
clean and smooth on one panel, and the more he works 
over it, the worse the panel looks. 

Graining color should be rubbed out evenly, not too dry 
but always clean and free from cloudy places. 

If the groundwork is glossy from the use of too much 
linseed oil, the graining color is, in cold weather, likely to 



24 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

crawl or creep and not adhere to the work except by the 
use of considerable elbow-grease. 

An effective remedy for this trouble is found in benzine, 
which can rapidly be applied to the work, using a clean 
pot and brush, and wherever it touches the groundwork 
the crawling is completely prevented. This preparatory 
work can, if necessary, be done hours before the work is 
rubbed in. A Httle bolted whiting should be added if the 
work is to be done in water colors. 

RUBBING IN WATER COLOR 

If the groundwork has been properly prepared, there 
should be no difficulty in applying the graining color with 
a large sponge, or with the fiat brush. 

If too much oil has been used in the paint, the work will 
appear glossy, and it will require much more effort to make 
the color adhe;-e to it. 

If the crawling or cissing is too pronounced, it may be 
remedied by the process previously described for oil colors, 
or the sponge may be dipped in a tin of damped whiting, 
or a cake of soap may be held in the left hand and the 
sponge or brush rubbed in it, which will help to stop the 
crawling when the sponge or brush is rubbed to the ground- 
work. 

In rubbing in doors in water color it is wise to leave the 
long stiles or rails until the rest of the door is finished. 
Take a sheet of coarse sandpaper ; give it a good coat of 
shellac on the smooth side. This will prevent the absorp- 
tion of color. It can then be placed against the mitres of 
the door, rough side in, which will prevent it from slip- 
ping, and with a sponge wet in clear water cut off the 
color clean to the cross stiles ; then rub in the long stiles, 
or rails, and finish the door. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 25 

CHAPTER X 

COMBING IN OIL COLOR 

AFTER the graining color is rubbed in, the portions 
of the work that are intended to be left with plain 
grains or that are to be figured in quartered oak are 
combed ; that is, a background representing the pores of the 
wood is produced by using rubber or steel combs. If the 
grain to be represented is yellow pine, ash, chestnut, cherry, 
cypress, or walnut, a steel comb covered with a rag will 
do good work, or a rubber comb cut with teeth about five 
to ten to the inch can be used without being covered with 
a rag. Some grainers prefer to take a coarse steel comb 
which has been placed in a vise and the corners of the 
teeth rounded with a file so that a comparatively small 
surface of the tooth of the comb comes in contact with 
the work. This leaves wider spaces between the teeth ; 
but by pressure on the comb, the teeth of which are cov- 
ered with a rag, the width of the lines left by the teeth 
is made greater. As the comb wears away the round 
corners of the teeth are lost and it is necessary to again 
file them. 

Remember that the color is to be pushed aside by the 
rubber comb, and the track left by the comb need not in- 
dicate that all the color has been removed from the work. 
The color should be gathered in the dark lines, but it must 
not be too thick or it will stand out in ridges, which is just 
the opposite from the natural effect it is desired to imitate, 
as the dark lines in wood are most frequently open pores 
which, when filled, outline the grain with greater distinct- 
ness, and, as a matter of fact, they are below the level of 
the surface unless thoroughly filled. They are never above 
the surface ; hence the grainer must be careful not to have 



26 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

his work appear ridgy, which would be the case if the color 
was too thick and left ridges when combed. 

If clean rubbing in is essential to the looks of a job, 
clean combing is doubly so. Many a job would be vastly 
improved if the grainer had taken pains to keep his comb- 
ing clean and distinct. A cleanly executed job of comb- 
ing is as good an imitation of wood as is the most elaborate 
piece of figured work. 

The beginner cannot spend too much time practising 
combing, always taking a piece of natural wood for his 
copy, and unless he can master this detail it is hopeless 
to look for success as an all-round grainer. 

The professional, or trade grainer, seldom carries an 
extensive set of combs. Often two or three old steel 
combs and a few rubber ones, and possibly the selvedge 
of a piece of Canton straw matting, comprise his kit for 
oil graining. With these few tools, and some cotton rags, 
an expert can do excellent work. It is not intended to 
condemn a larger kit of tools. It is sometimes necessary 
in order to execute special work to have special tools, but 
the tools named above are all that are absolutely necessary 
for combs. 

After wiping out heart grains with a rag it is advisable 
to carry out the fine lines on the outside edges of the 
heart grains by using a rubber comb about one and one- 
half inches wide, the teeth of which are cut rather deep 
and about ten to the inch. Cover the comb with a thin 
piece of cotton cloth and draw through the color, closely 
following the last line wiped out by the rag. Consider- 
able pressure must be used or the lines will not appear as 
distinct as those made by the thumb covered with the rag. 
It is possible to use the comb for this purpose without first 
covering it with the rag, but it is safer to keep the teeth 
covered. A coarse steel comb may be used in this manner 
if the teeth have been filed as previously directed. 

It takes years to acquire an expert touch in combing, 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 27 

and it is useless to attempt the finer lines of work until a 
fair success has been achieved in combins:. 

Great care must be taken to wipe the teeth of the comb 
clean every time it is used or the work will suffer in con- 
sequence. Hold a rag in the left hand, and keep the teeth 
of the comb clean, wiping the teeth on the rag every time 
the comb is used. A selvedge of coarse Canton straw mat- 
ting makes an excellent comb for the finer grains of oak or 
any close-grained wood ; cut a piece about four inches wide, 
leaving the selvedge for back of comb. Let the matting be 
about two and one-half to three inches in length, and have the 
edge cut clean with a sharp knife or scissors. This makes 
a very flexible comb, which readily adapts itself to moulded 
work, and more work can be done with it on mouldings at 
one sweep than by any other tool except a corn broom or 
a water-color overgrainer. It is quickly worn out, but its 
cost is very small. New matting makes the best comb, 
but old matting is not to be despised. Some of the coarse 
matting of woven grass that is wrapped about tea chests 
or other articles that are imported from the Orient 
makes a good comb for certain purposes. A handful of 
rattan shavings can also be used or a bunch of cotton 
twine. Many grainers cover their fingers with a rag and 
make coarse combing by this method, but wood is seldom 
successfully imitated in this way. 

Some grainers prefer to cut notches in the edge of the 
cork or rubber comb rather than to cut the teeth through 
the edge ; in this case the comb must be held at the proper 
angle, in order to properly comb the work. 

In combing a background for quartered oak a careful 
study of the wood will show us that the grain appears to 
consist of a series of pores of longer or shorter length, 
and the spaces between the pores is of different widths, 
often varying in the same board from very wide to very 
narrow. A graduated rubber comb with teeth of different 
sizes is useful for such work. 



28 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

We first draw the rubber comb through the graining 
color, holding the comb at a slight angle so that the grain- 
ing color is gathered and left in a track from one edge of 
the teeth of the comb. A wide-toothed rubber or cork 
comb may be used in beginning to comb a wide panel. 
After two or more sweeps of the comb a finer-toothed one 
may be taken, and the lines made by the coarser comb 
closely followed. If the panel is very wide, a still finer- 
toothed comb of the same material may be used until the 
other side of the panel is reached. Be careful to follow 
closely the general direction of the lines made by the first 
comb. 

When the panel is filled with parallel lines made by the 
rubber or cork comb, they should be broken up into smaller 
lines and made to represent the pores of the wood by 
judiciously using the steel combs, drawing them through 
the lines made by the rubber or cork comb and at a slight 
angle so that 'the effect of the pores is obtained. 

By taking a medium-toothed steel comb and breaking 
out every third tooth a more woody effect is produced in 
one combing than if the teeth were not removed. The 
finest steel comb may be treated in a similar manner and 
used to make the interlocked effect of the finer plain grains 
by using it over the tracks made by the fine rubber or 
cork comb. The work is then ready to wipe out the 
quartered grains. 

When oak heart grains are wiped out with a rag, they can 
be made a great deal more like the grains of wood by using 
a blending comb. This is an ordinary two-inch medium 
steel comb and is used as follows : break out every other 
tooth ; then heat the teeth red hot, place the comb in a 
vise, and bend the tips of the teeth backward until they 
are at right angles with their original position, but with a 
rounded corner. When cool, cover the bent teeth with a 
thin piece of rubber such as toy balloons are made of and 
draw it tightly over the teeth. This will leave hollows 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 29 

between the teeth, and the comb can then be drawn against 
the edges of the heart grains made with the rag, and the 
edges are serrated and shghtly blended, giving a much 
more natural effect to the work. A similar comb, without 
bent teeth, and without being covered with a rag, may be 
used for the same purpose, but the work lacks the blended 
effect given by the rubber-covered comb. If the thin 
rubber is tied around the end of each tooth of the comb, it 
will do good work as a blending comb without having 
the teeth bent. 

COMBING WATER COLOR 

For combing in water color, rubber and steel combs may 
be used, also combs cut from a potato or a turnip. It is 
necessary to add a little beeswax and soap or glycerine to 
water color if successful combing is attempted. The bees- 
wax may be melted by boiling it in water. Be careful not 
to get in too much ; a little goes a great way. The water 
color should not be allowed to get too cold ; a little alcohol 
added to the water helps to assimilate the wax and keep it 
in solution. The megilp compound previously described 
should be used if necessary. 

The overgrainers can readily be made to take the places 
of rubber combs for water-color work, and the steel combs 
can be used over them while the work is wet. A stippled 
effect produced by the use of the long-haired, grainer's 
stippler is often an excellent background from which to 
work up quartered oak in water color, provided the stip- 
pling is not done coarsely nor of too dark a color. 

Jones's patent graining check rollers may be used with 
excellent effect in either oil or water color. For some 
sorts of dark oak in oil the figure may be wiped out with- 
out combing, and the effect of the pores of the wood may 
be obtained by use of the check roller used as an over- 
grainer after the work is dry. 

The check roller is made of thin disks of zinc, which are 



30 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

notched on the edge like the teeth of a comb. The centre 
of the disks have a hole punched through them, and they 
fit loosely on a wooden shaft through which runs a steel 
pin. Between each disk a brass ring is placed on the 
wooden shaft. Its thickness determines the width of the 
spaces between the disks. A handle of thin steel is sprung 
over the ends of the steel pin which protrudes through 
either end of the wooden shaft, and its own tension holds 
it in place. The disks revolve as the roller is pushed over 
the work, and the color is fed to them by a brush held 
firmly against the disks as they revolve. Care must be 
taken not to use strong vinegar on the disks nor to clean 
them by soaking in potash, as either treatment will dissolve 
the zinc and sharpen the disks to a knife edge. 

Wooden rollers have been made to do similar work, but 
they fail to adjust themselves to the inequalities of the 
work and only touch it when perfectly level ; hence they 
do not equal Jones's check roller. 

The check roller can be used in water color on the 
groundwork before the graining color is rubbed in, and 
the marks which appear on the light portions of the work 
when the color is removed to make the figure can be rubbed 
off with a damp cloth. 

For the lighter kinds of oak it is unnecessary to use the 
check roller except as it may be used to put in the medul- 
lary rays which appear in the heart grains. These may 
be put in by using either oil or water color on the work 
previously grained. On the whole, the best effect is 
obtained by the use of water color. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 31 

CHAPTER XI 

GRAINING CRAYONS 

FOR imitating certain kinds of wood, crayons or crayon 
pencils are of great assistance. The latter can be 
bought at almost any art-goods shop, and the former 
can be made to suit the requirements of individual cases. 

In making crayons for water-color work the base of the 
crayon is composed of pipe clay or china clay. Bolted 
whiting will do, but it is likely to be more gritty than the 
clay ; it also has a bad effect on siennas and umbers, mak- 
ing them fade. Make the crayons on a marble slab or on 
glass. When made, lay aside to harden. The colors for 
tinting the crayons depend on what wood you wish to 
represent. All colors should first be finely ground in 
water. For making crayons for light oak or ash, proceed 
as follows : Dissolve about a teaspoonful of gum arable in 
two tablespoonfuls of boiUng water. Mix this with about 
two tablespoonfuls of pipe clay. Then add the colors, which 
should contain as little water as possible. Use stale beer 
to thin the paste color if it is too stiff to work freely. One 
part burnt umber to two parts raw sienna will make a good 
oak or ash crayon. If a dark oak is desired, add Vandyke 
brown, or a little drop-black, till the desired shade is 
obtained. If colors ground in water cannot be had, use 
any colors. A small percentage of glycerine added to the 
mixture will make the crayon work smoother. It is neces- 
sary to have the groundwork flat or nearly so or the crayon 
will not mark on the work. 

For cherry or mahogany use burnt sienna and a little 
burnt umber. For walnut, burnt umber and Vandyke 
brown ; for rosewood, drop-black. 

For overgraining bird's-eye maple the crayons in wood 
will be found much better adapted to the work than any 



32 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

made by hand. They should be of a light reddish brown, 
about the color of burnt sienna. Crayons can be used in 
oil-graining color, but as a rule are too soft for that pur- 
pose. They can be made tougher by the admixture of a 
small quantity of beeswax melted in turpentine. 

As a rule the work done by crayons is apt to look harsh 
and crude unless carefully blended. Heart veins and the 
fine dark veins of quartered oak or sycamore are the only 
things for which the crayons can successfully be used. 
Some grainers soak the crayons in oil before using them 
in oil colors ; for maple the crayons encased in wood are 
much the best. 

Experiments with varying proportions of the above 
ingredients will determine the crayon best suited for indi- 
vidual needs or for special work. 



CHAPTER XII 

WIPING OUT HEART GRAINS IN OIL COLOR 

THE heart grains of oak, ash, chestnut, or any open- 
grained wood may be represented by folding a soft 
piece of cotton cloth two or three times and placing 
the thumb nail of the right hand in the rag, holding the 
loose portion of the rag in the left hand and then drawing 
the outlines of the grains. When the color has become 
slightly set, or partially dry, the inside edges of the figures 
may be softened with the rag on the thumb, leaving the out- 
line clean and sharp. A steel comb may then be used and 
drawn lightly against the outlined or sharp edges of the 
work and the whole shghtly blended with the rubbing-in 
brush or badger blender, drawing the brush always against 
the sharp outlined edges of the figure; or the blending 



PLATE 6 




( 



CURLY MAPLE — MOTTLED 
To overgrain 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 33 

comb previously described may be used. Its advantao-e 
is that a round-edged heart may be made into a serrated 
one by the use of this comb. 

If a pencil brush or fitch is used to make the heart 
grains for oak, the graining color should be rubbed in 
quite sparingly, and when slightly set the coarse steel 
comb should be used and drawn through the color, the 
comb being held at an angle which will allow the color to 
be deposited from one edge of the comb. The split steel 
comb (that is, a medium steel comb having every third 
tooth broken out) is then drawn across the edges of the 
lines made by the coarse steel comb, and when a suffi- 
cient portion of the color is removed a pencil bristle 
fitch is dipped in some of the graining color and the 
heart grains put in. The work is then blended with the 
rubbing-in brush or a badger blender and the edges of 
the grains are sharpened and the inside portions softened. 
Care should be taken to vary the direction of the figure 
of the work ; endeavor to be versatile and work out the 
figure of the heart grains up or down in the centre or 
on the edge as the work may require. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CURLY MAPLE 

Ground-color. — White lead, a very little medium chrome 
yellow with a touch of vermilion red. Thinners : one-third 
oil to two-thirds turpentine, adding a sufficient quantity of 
dryers. 

Graining Color. — Crimson lake and drop-black with raw 
sienna, or raw sienna and raw or burnt umber ; overgrain 
with thin burnt sienna. 

Tools. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, mottler, blender, 



34 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

chamois leather, overgrainers, bone comb, and camel's-hair 
pencil or crayon set in wood. 

Curly maple is a very handsome wood and is found 
growing in all temperate climates; from fifty to sixty 
varieties of maple are used for timber. It is often cut 
from the same tree as bird's-eye maple, the latter being the 
outer layers of the wood. It is better to represent this 
wood in water colors. 

First dampen the work with a sponge wrung out of a 
mixture of one-third stale beer to two-thirds clean water. 
If the color " crawls " or " cisses," dip the sponge in some 
dry bolted whiting and rub over the work. This will 
effectually stop the crawling, and also act as a megilp. 
Rub in the graining color, which is composed of raw sienna 
and a touch of crimson lake and drop-black, or raw and 
burnt sienna with a touch of umber may be used ; or the 
raw sienna may be entirely omitted and crimson lake and 
drop-black will be all that is necessary to use. It depends 
on how the wood to be matched has been finished. New 
wood will be light and show but little of the raw sienna 
shade, while old wood invariably takes on a yellowish 
brown shade, which is fairly well represented by raw 
sienna. 

Have two separate pots : one full of clean water, in which 
the tools must occasionally be cleaned ; and the other 
containing a small amount of graining color, just enough 
to do the work in hand. A little maple color goes over a 
great surface. Have a palette, a piece of glass, or an old 
plate, on which some of the thick color is placed and on 
which the overgrainer is left when not in use. The sash 
tool can be dipped in this thick color and a little taken up 
at a time and spread out with the large brush which is used 
in the thin color. In graining a door maple, the mouldings 
are always left till the last thing, and then neatly cut in 
and mottled if necessary. 

When a piece of the work is rubbed in with the color, 



PLATE 7 






CURLY MAPLE - OVERGRAINED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 35 

take the mottler, and after having wet it in clean water and 
shaken it thoroughly, proceed to mottle the work, taking 
off the color in irregular patches similar to the grain of the 
wood and blend lightly crosswise with the badger blender. 
Or the fingers may be dipped in clean water, and by drawing 
them across the work a mottled effect is produced which, 
when blended, is very similar to the figure of the wood. 

After this work has become dry it must be overgrained 
very lightly, using the short-haired overgrainer and a very 
thin wash of burnt sienna, with which the overgrainer is 
charged, and the bristles separated by the bone comb, and 
the fine overgrain lines applied over the mottled work, giv- 
ing the lines an undulated appearance, using great care to 
have each set of lines made by the brush follow exactly the 
same direction as those previously made. This work must 
be quickly blended crosswise, so that a sharp edge is given 
to one side of the overgrained lines. 

Cut down the mitres of the long rails with a clean 
sponge and rub in slightly lighter (or darker) than the 
cross stiles. When all is dry, pass the hand lightly over 
the work and it is ready to be varnished. If a very deep 
shade is required, it may be given a very thin glaze of water 
color after one coat of varnish has been applied and the 
whole revarnished. 



CHAPTER XIV 

bird's-eye maple 

THE same ground-color, graining color, and tools as 
for curly maple. 

Nothing among our light woods can compare 
in beauty with bird's-eye maple, and of recent years it 
appears to have grown more in favor, especially in furni- 



36 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

ture. It is found in all temperate climates and is a very 
beautiful and durable wood. 

There are a dozen or more varieties of bird's-eye maple, 
and the eyes or dots in the work vary according to the 
species of the wood or the soil in which the tree was grown. 
A piece in my possession, grown in the mountains of Italy, 
is completely filled with the " eyes." Not a square inch on 
the board contains less than two or three of the " eyes," 
and in many places seven or eight "eyes" appear to the 
square inch. 

It would not be wise to represent the eyes so profusely 
on the average job, for it would give it the appearance of 
being overdone. The general character of the wood places 
the eyes in clusters with scattered eyes between. Some- 
times one side of a panel will be comparatively free from 
eyes and the other side will be filled with them. 

Bird's-eye maple can best be represented in water colors, 
but it is not impossible in oil colors. It can be done more 
rapidly and with greater effect in water than in oil. 

After having prepared the colors, as described for curly 
maple, rub in a panel, and after wringing out the chamois 
skin or a piece of soft cotton rag from a bath of clean water, 
form it into a roll and roll down the panel. This will take 
off the color in irregular patches. Blend at once with the 
badger blender, crosswise ; or the mottler may be taken 
and portions of the color removed to show the high lights, 
and the blender used lightly. Or a roll of oil putty may 
be used and rolled down the panel, which will take off 
more or less of the color ; blend at once. Or the backs of 
the fingers may be used and the color drawn into darker 
shades. Then use the mottler to draw up the color into 
little heads on which the eyes will later be placed. If the 
color dries before the work is completed, wet it over with 
clean water applied very carefully with a clean, short-haired 
overgrainer. A strong, high light generally divides the 
bird's-eye. Blend lightly and proceed with the work. 



PLATE 8 







BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE 
First stage 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 37 

When the first application of color is dry, the eyes should 
be put in, using burnt sienna very thin for the color. The 
amateur grainer generally puts them in by using the tips of 
his fingers in the wet color, but the wood is seldom repre- 
sented in this manner. There are a variety of methods 
by which the eyes can be represented. A slice of raw 
potato may be cut so that it will take up the color like a 
rubber pad and apply it to the work in the form of a bird's- 
eye. Or a camel's-hair pencil may be cut, leaving about 
one quarter of an inch of hair from the quill. Then burn 
out the centre of the brush with a hot wire. The color 
can then be taken up and deposited on the work where 
the eyes are to appear. The eyes can also be made with 
the crayon pencil cased in wood similar to an ordinary lead 
pencil. This method can also be used for the overgrain- 
ing, as there invariably appears to be a fine line of color of 
a darker shade which winds about the bird's-eyes. The 
eyes can also be represented by taking a soft piece of 
cotton rag, wet in the graining color, in which has been 
placed a little of the dark color and burnt sienna mixed 
together. Wrap this rag around a wooden skewer about 
the size of a lead pencil ; fold the double edge of rag 
around the point of the skewer once only, winding the rest 
of the rag higher up the skewer. Keep the upper part of 
the rag thoroughly wet, which will drive the color down 
towards the point of the skewer, from which, by the folded 
edge of the rag, it can easily be transferred to the work 
and enough can be taken in the rag at once to do several 
panels. The size and shape of the eyes can easily be 
regulated by altering the shape of the rag at the point 
of the skewer. 

When the eyes have been put in, the work may be 
overgrained — in some places very faintly, in others rather 
boldly, depending on the character of the eyes. The over- 
graining color should always be warmer in tone and con- 
siderably darker than the rubbing-in color, and when applied 



38 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

with an overgrainer or with a camel's-hair pencil, it should 
be blended to a sharp edge. Be sure to avoid the tendency 
to run over the eyes. This is never seen in nature. The 
eyes are always clean cut and distinct from the rest of the 
work and the overgrain invariably passes around, not over, 
them. 

If the lights and shades are not sufficiently marked, any 
of the shadows may be darkened and the high lights thrown 
into greater relief by applying a thin coat of the grain- 
ing color to the portions to be darkened and blending 
quickly. This must be done very carefully or it will look 
patchy and cloudy, and it should be done before the over- 
graining is applied. 

Care must be taken not to overdo the work. Put the 
choicest grains in the panels and leave the stiles and 
rails with less figure. This rule will apply to nearly all 
woods. 

An old, worn-out, flat brush makes a good mottler for 
maple. Saw off the handle close to the binding and wash 
thoroughly clean in strong soda water. It is then ready 
for use. The camel's-hair fine pencil may be used for 
overgraining, and oil color can be used for this purpose. If 
so used, it would be better to do it after the work had one 
thin coat of pale varnish. 

Bird's-eye maple can be represented wherever it is 
desired to produce light and delicate effects, and for such 
purposes it is far superior to white paint or plain paint of 
any kind or color. The effect of a nicely executed job 
of maple is reposeful and quiet. It gives an impression 
of lightness and grace not to be obtained by any other 
means except by the use of the natural wood. 

Maple is finished in many shades; but it is most beautiful 
when finished in white shellac or light copal varnish, leav- 
ing the mottlings clear and bright. It will assume a 
darker hue with age, and this hue is never satisfactorily 
imitated by staining the new wood. Where the work is 



PLATE 9 









* 





BiRD'S-EYE MAPLE -OVERGRAINED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 39 

to be matched to old maple, care must be taken to prepare 
the ground-color of the proper shade, which will be as 
nearly as possible similar to the lightest color to be seen 
in the wood. This rule for ground-color applies to all 
woods, light or dark. The grainer cannot produce the 
proper effect on a color foundation which bears no resem- 
blance to the general color tone of the wood. It is better 
to have the color a little lighter rather than darker than 
the lightest shade of the wood, as the work can be over- 
grained or shaded to bring it to a darker shade ; but unless 
the ground-color is sufficiently light the work will have to 
be repainted in order to produce a woody effect. 

In our grandfathers' days drawing-rooms and chambers 
were often grained in maple with satinwood panels. The 
work of many old grainers, long since dead, is a monument 
to their intelligence and skill as craftsmen. To success- 
fully imitate this wood requires a dainty touch and a deep 
knowledge of the figure of the natural wood combined with 
no small amount of technical skill. Nothing but persist- 
ent practice and study of the wood, using the best 
methods and tools, will suffice to acquire this skill. 

The tools required to imitate maple need not be many. 
The human hand is a most wonderful tool and unaided 
can, if intelligently directed, do many things which would 
not be supposed possible. Mottling equal in effect to 
anything the mottler or cut tool can do may be pro- 
duced by the fingers alone. This, of course, applies to 
water colors. Rub in the panel or stile, wet the hand in 
clean water, and to produce a mottled effect draw the 
fingers over the work from the palm of the hand in the 
direction you wish the mottles to appear. Blend immedi- 
ately, and when dry overgrain. The knuckles of the hand 
may be used in a similar manner to produce the lights and 
shades in the panels previous to putting in the eyes. 
Nothing but practice will allow a person to become expert 
in this sort of work. 



40 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

111 making the eyes in the wood care should be taken 
to place the high light on the eyes in such a manner as to 
suggest the real wood ; the eyes are seldom enclosed in a 
circle. The overgrain around the eyes is almost invariably 
intersected by the high light, so that the overgrain, as a 
rule, appears above and below the eyes and the high lights 
or mottle veins across the eyes. In some specimens the 
high light appears only on one side of the eyes and the 
stronger overgrain on the opposite side. 

There is an infinite variety in the grains of this wood, 
and the illustrations given herewith must not be considered 
as the only types of the wood. 

The primary object of these illustrations and, in fact, of 
all succeeding ones, is to exhibit the work done by the 
processes that are described, and the effort has been made 
to give the characteristic features of each wood in the 
limited space covered by the illustrations. 



CHAPTER XV 

SILVER MAPLE 

Ground-color. — White lead with a touch of burnt sienna. 

Grahiiug Color. — Drop-black or ivory black, adding a 
little burnt sienna for overgraining. 

Tools. — Same as for bird's-eye maple. 

This wood is a gray variety of maple, and is often stained 
to produce a silvery effect. 

The mottling and graining are practically identical with 
the methods used for bird's-eye maple. There are fewer 
bird's-eyes in the wood than in bird's-eye maple. The 
mottling should be made clean and distinct, and when 
properly overgrained, it makes a very effective piece of 
decorative work. It is, however, seldom used, and is less 



PLATE 10 




BIRDS-EYE IMAPLE — FINISHED 



GRAINING, AJMCIENT AND MODERN 41 

in favor than bird's-eye maple. In some cases it is used 
on the stiles of doors where bird's-eye maple is used on 
the panels. 



CHAPTER XVI 

WHITEWOOD 

Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, and raw umber. 

Graining Color. — Raw umber, raw sienna, burnt sienna, 
black. 

Tools. — Rubbing-in brush, combs, rags, pencil fitch, 
sash tools, and overgrainers. 

This wood is known through the south and southwest 
portion of the United States, of which it is a native, as 
yellow poplar, and in color varies from a very light creamy 
shade to a dull grayish brown, in some cases nearly as 
dark as walnut. It has often a fine-grained heart, but is 
most frequently marked with reddish brown to gray streaks 
which run longitudinally with the grain. It is rarely found 
with any mottled effect, but there are exceptions. One 
variety is called blistered whitewood, for the reason that 
its markings resemble blisters in their shape. It is seldom 
necessary to imitate this variety. 

This wood can be represented in either oil or water 
color, but it is most frequently done in oil. Its grains are 
very simple, and are seldom prominent in the heart grains, 
so they can be represented quite successfully with a bristle 
fitch tool or the small fresco liner. 

In mixing the graining color use mostly raw umber for 
the base of the color. Tone this up with raw sienna, and 
after thinning apply a very thin wash of color to the work ; 
then streak the plain portions with a thin wash of the 
graining color which has been slightly darkened by the 
addition of raw umber and a little burnt sienna. If neces- 



42 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

sary, for very dark veins a trifle of black may be added to 
the color. Draw the rubbing-in brush evenly over the 
work, using considerable pressure on the sides of the 
brush. This will leave a faint grain, and the dark veins 
can be made on the background and blended across the 
grain with the rubbing-in brush. Avoid strong contrasts 
unless the surrounding woodwork has examples of that 
kind. 

The heart grains can be put in with some of the rubbing- 
in color which has been slightly darkened by the addition 
of a little raw umber or a touch of black, using the flat 
fresco bristle liner to apply the color and blending length- 
wise. They nearly always appear as dark lines on a 
lighter background. Should they appear light, they can 
be represented by making a very fine outline grain with a 
pointed piece of wood covered with two layers of thin 
cotton cloth. Blend slightly lengthwise of the grain. 

Whitewood seldom requires overgraining, as the divi- 
sions can be cleanly made and lighter and darker boards 
represented by varying the amount of color applied to 
the work in the first graining. 

It is seldom necessary to grain it, as the original is now 
one of our cheapest woods. It is an excellent wood for 
panels, as it contains no sap ; therefore it is unnecessary 
to apply shellac before it is painted. 



CHAPTER XVII 

SATINWOOD 

Ground-color. — White lead, tinted with raw sienna. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, Vandyke 
brown. 

Tools. - — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, mottler, blender, and 
overgrainer. 



»-!aai^g«M^^y aj g pMy««» - - 



PLATE I 1 





-*S^«-'y^Ww*«F-" 



WHITEWOOD 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 43 

This wood is a native of India and belongs to the cedar 
species. Its figure is similar to that of mahogany, and 
especially so in the crotch of the tree. In the olden times 
these crotches were cut into thin veneers and used for 
panels on the. finest of light cabinet work. 

There is a variety of maple very similar in grain to the 
mottled satinwood, but the crotch or feathered effect is 
lacking. 

This wood can be represented most effectively in water 
colors. Mix a thin wash composed of seven-eighths of raw 
sienna to one-eighth of Vandyke brown. Have some of 
the thick color of either shade on a palette or plate ; rub 
in lightly with the graining color mixed with one-third beer 
to two-thirds water. If the panel is to show the feathered 
effect, a sash tool charged with a mixture of raw sienna 
and a very little Vandyke brown is used to lay in the 
darker portions of the grain on the color already rubbed 
in. The mottler is then used to take out the lights by 
removing portions of the dark color and working out the 
general plan of the feather, breaking up the continuous 
lines laid on by the sash tool. The badger blender is 
then used to soften the lines, blending crosswise. This 
work must be done with rapidity, as the water color soon 
dries. A little soap added to the color will make it dry 
more slowly. If the panel dries before the desired back- 
ground effect is obtained, it may be wet with a clean 
mottler or overgrainer, using clear water not too profusely 
applied. The mottler, or cut tool, can then be used again 
to take out the high lights and produce the mottled effect, 
and the blender again used, blending across the panel. 

Care must be taken to get but Httle color on the work. 
The most common fault of grainers who represent maple 
or satinwood is that they get the color too dark because 
they apply the color too freely. 

When the background is dry, it should be overgrained, 
using the short-haired overgrainer and adding a little 



44 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

burnt sienna to the graining color. The overgrainer is 
charged rather sparingly with this color and the color ap- 
plied over the feathered pattern, which should be dry when 
overgrained. The badger blender is again used to draw 
the color (applied by the overgrainer) to a sharp edge. 
Do not make the overgraining color too strong. If this is 
done, it tends to obscure the hght and shade of the work. 
It is well to use bone combs of different sizes for separat- 
ing the bristles of the short-haired overgrainer. The 
piped camel's-hair overgrainer can occasionally be used to 
advantage, especially on the feathered panels. 

The mottled form of satinwood is far more frequently 
seen than is the crotch or feathered variety. This is 
represented by first rubbing-in the graining color and with 
the sash tool applying streaks of color slightly darker than 
the rubbing-in color. Then take the mottler, or cut tool, 
and separate the streaks or veins of darker color into short, 
darkened patches or groups and blend quickly with the 
badger blender. Care must be taken to keep the mottler, 
or cut tool, perfectly clean, rinsing it occasionally in clean 
water and wiping it on a clean cloth or wash leather. 

When the mottling is dry, it should be overgrained, add- 
ing a little burnt sienna to the color, but being careful not 
to get the overgraining too strong, as one of the chief 
charms of the wood is its dehcacy of figure and its sugges- 
tion of the folds of satin in its mottled markings. 

Very pale varnish should be used to finish the wood. It 
is sometimes necessary to apply a thin coat of varnish 
before overgraining. In that case the general character 
of the work can be strengthened without danger of spoil- 
ing the work, which danger is always present when the 
panel is only wet over in water. 



PLATE 12 



■y 



'"'&,' 



' ^)mmmmml9mmmm1l!m%.m«fsmm w I"' 




SATINWOOD — FEATHER PANEL 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 45 



CHAPTER XVIII 

WHITE MAHOGANY 

Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt umber, drop-black, 
crimson lake. 

Tools. — Sponges, rubbing-in brush, sash tool, mottlers, 
blender, and overgrainers. 

This wood is grown on the east and west coast of Mexico. 
Its grain is very delicate and some portions are similar to 
satinwood, but the motthngs are seldom as strong as those 
of satinwood. Its color is also much lighter and the gen- 
eral character of the figure is more subdued and quiet in 
tone. It possesses unmistakable signs and veins of the 
true mahogany and is similar in general character to the 
grain of mottled mahogany, but exceedingly light in color. 

1 cannot recall having ever seen a feather or crotch of 
white mahogany, but there are doubtless such figures in 
the wood. All the panelled work that has come under 
my observation has had the mottled effects in the grain. 
There is very little difference in color between the long 
rails and the cross stiles, hence it would be unwise to make 
any strong contrasts in the graining. 

This wood can be done most effectively in water color. 
Use raw sienna for the base of color ; add a trifle of drop- 
black and a touch of crimson lake. Rub in with this color 
thinned with one-third stale beer to two-thirds clean water. 
Darken the color slightly by dipping the sash tool lightly 
in some of the very thin drop-black with just a touch of 
crimson lake added. Lay out dark veins in the general 
direction you wish them to appear. Then use the mottler 
to break them into short sections, or the back of the 
fingers may be used, as in maple ; a small sponge may be 
used for this purpose. 



46 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

If it is desired to have the work very Hght, the black 
may be omitted and a touch of burnt sienna or Vandyke 
brown substituted ; or the mottling may be done directly 
on the rubbed-in work without the addition of any darker 
color. Before the color dries it should be softened care- 
fully with the badger blender very lightly, always in one 
direction and across the grain of the wood. 

A careful inspection of this wood will reveal a fine po- 
rous effect, which can best be obtained by carefully stip- 
pling the work. This can be done on the work when dry 
after it has had a thin coat of varnish. Or, it may be 
stippled on the ground-color and bound with a thin coat of 
varnish before the figured work is put in. 

For stippling color use a very thin wash of raw sienna 
slightly deepened with Vandyke brown or black. If the 
work is quickly done, there is a chance to put in some 
stippling with the ends of the blender before the mottling 
is dry; or a* round blender may be dipped in some dark- 
ened color and carefully used to make the porous effect. 

The overgrainer must be used on the dry mottling, tak- 
ing care to have the color very thin. Darken the over- 
graining color with a very little burnt sienna, just enough 
to make the overgrain perceptible without appearing too 
strong ; blend lightly across the work with the badger 
blender. 



CHAPTER XIX 

ASH 

Gronnd-coloi'. — White lead, yellow ochre, and a touch 
of raw umber. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, raw umber, and a touch 
of drop-black. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, 
fitches, fresco liner, combs, rags, etc. 



PLATE 13 



—jif^,^~ 




WHITE MAHOGANY 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 47 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, stip- 
pler, sash tool, fitches, fresco liner, overgrainers, crayons, 
etc. 

This wood is distributed very generously in all temper- 
ate climates and is an excellent wood for timber of all 
sorts. Some of its varieties are very beautiful. It is one 
of the lightest woods in color, but is classed as a hard wood ; 
in some varieties the grain is very dense, and in weight 
it is almost as heavy as oak. 

The grains of ash, as a rule, are less intricate than those 
of any of the hght hard woods, but occasionally we find an 
exceedingly complicated figure. The grains of Hungarian 
ash are very complex. Burl ash, which is an excrescence 
cut from the side of the tree, is a mass of fine grains, in 
some cases similar to the grains of bird's-eye maple. This 
sort of wood is generally sawed or cut into thin veneer 
and is used only for panels. 

The heart grains of ash are less angular than almost 
any other of the light hard woods. The points of the 
heart grains are nearly always rounded and seldom run to a 
sharp point ; this is the chief characteristic of this wood 
and it can readily be distinguished from chestnut (whose 
grain it often resembles) by this feature. 

Previous to the advent of quartered oak for interior finish 
in Massachusetts, ash was the wood most in favor for a 
light wood. It had supplanted chestnut for this pur- 
pose. The latter was the only light hard wood in general 
use for interior finish in eastern Massachusetts when the 
writer went to serve his time with his father in 1872. 

Since the cost of quartered oak has become so great, we 
see the ash again coming to the front. Being a softer 
wood, it is more easily worked than oak, and some people 
think that all light hard wood is oak, and often the cheap 
builder who wishes to sell his new house does not scruple 
to tell intending purchasers that it is finished in oak, when 
ash has been used. 



48 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

In mixing the graining color use about equal portions of 
raw sienna and raw umber, adding a little drop-black. If 
the shade of the color is too yellow, use less raw sienna 
and more raw umber. For some shades of ash raw umber 
alone makes a good graining color. For oil color, thin 
with the prepared thinners previously described. If the 
color is not sufficiently thick, add some bolted whiting and 
stir it well into the graining color. The use of whiting is 
not recommended in oil colors where it can be avoided, as 
the traces of lime in the whiting attack the iron compounds 
in the umbers and siennas and make them bleach out or 
fade. 

In graining this wood in oil color, first lightly sandpaper 
the groundwork, which should be about an egg-shell gloss, 
and dust off clean. Then apply the color evenly to a door 
or to several, as the color works better for being slightly 
set. Then use the rubber comb, not covered with a rag, 
or the steel combs covered with a thin piece of cotton rag, 
and make the grains, in the portions of the work intended 
to be left, in plain grains. 

A little color slightly darkened with a touch of black 
may be used to put in some darker veins among the 
combed work and the rubbing-in brush used for a blender 
to soften the lines. A little of this work used with dis- 
cretion serves to relieve the plainness of the combed work 
and presents an appearance similar to the natural wood 
without the expenditure of any great effort. 

The heart grains are always placed in the panels, and in 
some cases, where good natural wood is to be matched, 
they are to be placed on nearly every board. They can be 
represented by wiping out the oil color or by being pen- 
cilled on the color with a fitch tool or liner, or crayons may 
be used for this purpose. 

To wipe out the hearts, we use a soft piece of cotton 
rag — a piece of an old sheet is best for this purpose; fold 
the rag twice and place the thumb on the folded edge, 



i^LATE 15 




GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 49 

allowing the centre of the nail to be covered by the rag, 
but the inside edge of the nail is not covered. Draw the 
loose ends of the rag with the other hand, and using that 
hand to steady the other, outline the work with the thumb, 
making sweeps of the arm. The outside edge of the wiped 
outline should be cleanly cut. The inside edge riiay later 
be softened by using the rag on the ball of the thumb. 
Draw the outlines carefully and carry out the lines on the 
outside edges of the heart grains with a two-inch comb of 
rubber covered with a thin piece of rag so that the panel 
will have the same appearance all over. A common fault 
in doing this work is that the places where the comb has 
been used can readily be distinguished from the work done 
by the rag on the thumb. 

When the outline of the grain is completed, the rag can 
be placed over the tip or on the ball of the thumb, and the 
inside edges of all the outline softened by removing por- 
tions of the color. Look carefully at the natural wood and 
notice how to do this. Do not remove too much color. 

When the work has been cleanly outlined and softened, 
a medium steel comb may be used to sHghtly serrate the 
lines of combing on the sides of the heart grains, but this 
is not always necessary. Then take the rubbing-in brush 
and blend the work lightly, always drawing the brush 
toward the points of the heart grains, which will slightly 
sharpen them and give them a more woody appearance ; 
when the work is dry, it may be overgrained. 

The heart grains of ash may also be pencilled in oil color, 
or the pencil can be used to interline the work wiped out 
by the rag, and when properly blended, it greatly improves 
the appearance of the wiped-out heart grains. 

The fiat fresco bristle liner shown in cut of tools is an 
excellent tool for this purpose or for making the heart 
grains of any wood. The pencilling color should be slightly 
darker than the graining color with which the work was 
rubbed in. A soft piece of rag may be used to wipe off 



50 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

the color previous to putting in the grains, or the color 
may be left as rubbed in. It should be slightly set before 
the penciUing color is applied, otherwise it is likely to 
run together too much. Draw carefully the outline of the 
heart grains. Hold a sash tool in the left hand and as 
each dip of color is taken in the fresco liner, rub it lightly 
on the sash tool so that the latter absorbs some of the color 
and leaves the liner sufficiently supplied with color with- 
out being too full after taking each dip. 

When a panel or piece of work has been outlined with 
the liner, use the dry rubbing-in brush for a blender and 
blend lightly so that a sharp edge is formed on one side of 
the lines made by the liner. The blending is done toward 
the inside of the outlined heart grains, brushing the sharp 
edges of the color toward the outside of the heart grains. 
This will be found to resemble the grains most frequently 
seen in. the natural wood. There are frequently excep- 
tions to this rule, and careful attentions to the grains of 
the wood will show the student the best way to imitate it. 
Never allow the color to become so set that when the 
blending is done it will lift the color and show the ground- 
color too plainly. Such work is too scenic to be natural, 
and while admired by the amateur, is not so gopd an imita- 
tion of the wood as is more modest work. 'l' 

Overgraining greatly improves the work. Tafce some 
of the rubbing-in color, thin it with spirits of tur;pentine, 
add a little black if necessary, and give a thin wash of color 
to the more prominent heart grains and wipe out any high 
lights. Refrain from attempting any knots either in the 
wiped-out work or in the overgraining. Knots are rarely 
seen in ash. 

The work can be overgrained in water colors and, while 
it is a slower process on account of first having to dampen 
in the work with a sponge and a little whiting mixed with 
beer and water, it is most effective, and has the merit of 
keeping the oil color off the oil graining, so that a surplus 




LIGHT ASH— WIPED OUT AND PENCILLED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 51 

of oil color is not applied under the varnish, which in time 
might cause the varnish to crack. 

Aim to produce a woody appearance of the work as a 
whole. Do not overcrowd the doors with strong heart 
grains, and keep all joints and divisions cleanly cut. 

Ash may be represented very successfully in water colors. 
In this case, little or no wiping-out is done, the heart grains 
being applied with the bristle liner. Thin the color with 
one part stale beer to two parts clean water. If the color 
crawls or creeps on account of lack of affinity with the 
groundwork, it may be remedied by rubbing the work with 
dampened whiting, or a cake of soap may be used, and 
the rubbing-in brush rubbed frequently on the soap. When 
the color is applied, it may be lightly stippled with the 
long-haired stippler, or if the work is very light, the stip- 
pling may be omitted. If stippling is done, the color should 
be very thin and the stippling finely done, not coarse. 

The heart grains can then be put in with the bristle 
liner and the work blended with the badger blender. The 
short-haired overgrainer is used to carry out the lines on 
sides of panels. Where the liner has been used in the 
centre, they can also be used for the same purpose as the 
combs, and used in oil color. If the color is thickened, 
the rubber combs may be used with success. When the 
graining color is dry, it may be overgrained in thin oil 
colors. Crayons are sometimes used for making the heart 
grains, generally in water color. 

HUNGARIAN ASH 

Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, chrome yellow. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, raw umber. 

Tools. — Similar to those for ash. 

This wood is a native of southern Europe. It is more 
yellow in tone than light ash, and some varieties sold 
for Hungarian ash are undoubtedly American ash of a 
curly variety. Sometimes an old knurly ash log is cut 



52 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND iMODERN 

into veneers by cutting around the circumference of the 
log, and the figure produced is similar in character to 
Hungarian ash, but is much bolder. 

This wood can be imitated in either oil or water color. 
If done in water color, the work must first be mottled, 
using a thin wash of raw sienna and raw umber. Use the 
mottler or small fitch tool. Do not make the mottles too 
strong, as they can easily be darkened later on if necessary. 
Use a crayon to put in the grains on the mottling, or a 
camel's-hair pencil dipped in some darker color. The 
blender must be used to soften the lines made by the 
camel's-hair pencil. When dry, it may be overgrained in 
oil color and the mottling accented. 

In graining Hungarian ash in oil color, the color may be 
applied in the usual manner, and the outline of the work 
wiped out with a rag. This is a tedious and intricate pro- 
cess and can be surpassed by work done by a camel's-hair 
pencil, or by the bristle lining fitch or a crayon pencil. In 
fact, the more I study the heart grains of any wood, the 
more I feel convinced that more successful work can be 
done by the application of color to a properly prepared 
foundation than by the removal of color from a similar 
foundation. 

If the figure is to be applied with a pencil, first mottle 
the work, taking off the surplus color with a soft rag and 
blending lightly with the rubbing-in brush. This mottling 
can be allowed to dry if necessary or the grains can be 
pencilled in at once. The penciUing color should be slightly 
darker than the rubbing-in color, and it is well to thicken 
it with a Httle whiting or by the addition of fine, dry, raw 
sienna and raw umber. Pencil in the grains and blend 
lightly with the rubbing-in brush. A split steel comb may 
be used to break up the continuous lines and represent 
more faithfully the pores of the wood. Be sure and keep 
the teeth of the comb well cleaned. When this work has 
been allowed to dry, it may be overgrained in oil or in 



PLATE 16 



I 









4 

-1 

I 



! 

1 



ASH - HUNGARIAN ASH PANEL 



PLATE 17 



;l! 




ASH BURL PANEL 



PLATE 18 




DARK ASH 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 53 

water color, but take pains not to get the work too dark, 
and endeavor to keep the color slightly different from 
that of the plain ash. The use of this wood is confined 
almost wholly to panelled work, so its imitations should 
only be found on similar work. Do not confound this 
wood with a species of curly ash which is similar in color 
to light ash but whose grains are different. 

BURL ASH 

Ground-color, graining color, and tools similar to ash. 

Burl ash is an excrescence or abnormal growth which 
sometimes appears on the side of an ash tree. The late 
Professor Horsford of Harvard University, in his work on 
the Norsemen and their early occupancy of the North 
American continent, claims that one of their chief indus- 
tries was the cutting of these burls from ash and oak trees 
and their sale in European countries, where the wood was 
used to make spoons and other articles of household utility. 

The grain of burl ash is best represented in water colors. 
Sponge in the work and rub in the color, not too dark. 
Take a small sponge with medium-sized pores and dip it 
in some darkened graining color. Have a plate or palette 
and put the sponge on it to remove surplus color. Then 
apply the color to the panel evenly and endeavor to repre- 
sent the little knots or dots that appear in the work. 
After going over the work, allow it to dry and then go 
over it a second time in a similar manner, using color 
darker than that used the first time. 

If the panel is a large one, introduce a plainer grain 
toward the edge of panel and use the overgrainer to 
suggest the grains of the wood, merging the grains into 
the burl grains. When dry, rub the hand lightly over 
the work to remove any surplus color, and if necessary over- 
grain in oil color and slightly darken some of the clusters 
of dots or knots. There is very little light and shade in the 
average specimen of this wood. 



54 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

Burl ash can be imitated in oil color by using a sponge 
in the manner suggested for water color. First dip the 
sponge in water and wring out dry, then take up the oil 
color on one side of the sponge only. When the work is 
finished, the sponge can readily be cleaned by the use of 
soap and hot water. 

Burl ash panels, like those of Hungarian ash, should be 
used chiefly on interior work and then only in the panels 
of doors or wainscots. It is unwise to imitate them on 
outside work, as the real wood would rarely be used for 
that purpose. 



CHAPTER XX 

QUARTERED OAK 

Ground-color. — For light oak : white lead, yellow ochre, 
and a touch of burnt umber. For dark oak : white lead, 
yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt umber. By varying the 
quantities of these colors the ground-color can be made as 
dark as necessary. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, Vandyke brown, drop- 
black, burnt umber. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, etc. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash 
tool, fitches, bristle liner, overgrainers, combs, blender, etc. 

Quartered oak, or more properly quarter-sawed oak, is 
produced by sawing the wood parallel or nearly parallel 
to the medullary rays which radiate from the centre of the 
tree toward the bark. The log is usually halved or quar- 
tered, and boards sawn from the flat sides of each quarter 
vmtil the section is cut away. The nearer the wood is 
sawn parallel to the medullary ray, the more prominent 
and eccentric appear the grains of the wood. Undoubtedly 



PLATE 20 




1. HEART OF OAK LOG SHOWING QUARTERED OAK ON EDGES 

2. END OF OAK LOG SHOWING HOW QUARTERED OAK IS SAWED 



PLATE 21 




Ready for quartered veins 






MWi 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 55 

the locality and soil in which an oak tree grows affects in 
no small degree its markings. The white oak tree of New 
England and the Middle West when grown in favorable 
soil produces when properly sawn the boldest effects of 
quartered oak, many of the medullary rays appearing in 
the wood as large as the two forefingers of a man. The 
English oak tree when similarly sawn produces grains 
rarely one-fourth as prominent as those of American oak. 
The character of the figure is also different. The slowly 
developed English oak appears more dense in fibre and 
radically different both in heart grain and quartered effect 
from American oak. 

In some varieties of oak the medullary rays are short 
and very thin, so that although the wood may be sawn 
parallel thereto, the effect produced is almost Hke that of 
pine wood sawn in a similar manner. Such wood is usually 
sawn to produce heart grains. 

A section of a swamp white oak tree grown in South 
Carolina, measuring four feet in diameter, was exhibited 
in the Forestry Building at the World's Fair in Chicago 
in 1893, and again at St. Louis in 1904, and although 
sawed directly through the centre of the tree the medul- 
lary rays were scarcely discernible on the sides of the 
board where they should have appeared most prominently. 

A friend of mine told me an amusing story of a capital- 
ist friend who had recently purchased some valuable timber 
land in Tennessee. The man who sold the land said it was 
covered largely with oak trees, not the common oak but 
all quartered oak trees. (?) 

Of all the woods that are represented by graining^ oak, 
and especially quartered oak, is most frequently encoun- 
tered. Go where you will in the civilized, world wherever 
the English language is spoken, and you will find but few 
localities, especially if adjacent to large cities or towns, 
where imitations of oak are not to be seen. 

If samples of quartered oak, done by all the different 



56 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

grainers of any large city, could be exhibited, they would 
often show what a wide variety of opinion existed among 
grainers as to how the wood should be imitated and what 
they considered its most beautiful figures. In many cities 
some able workman sets the style, and his apprentices and 
imitators are more likely to follow his style than to study 
and follow the grains of the wood. 

Be original as far as possible. Copy no man's style or 
his work. Go to nature for your originals. Study closely 
the figure of the wood, use any or all methods to attain 
woody effects, but copy nature, not man. 

Unless one is in love with his calling and cherishes its 
secrets and methods he rarely can accomplish the best 
results in his work. 

A word might well be said at this point against the cus- 
tom of staining wood and obscuring the beautiful figure of 
quartered oak. The so-called antique oak may have been 
growing as a white oak tree within twelve months of the 
time it is placed on the market as furniture. It is folly 
to stain it to a shade as dark as walnut and call it 
"antique." Its beauties are largely hidden, yet some of 
the furniture-makers claim that their treatment " develops 
and brings out the hidden beauties of the wood." As well 
might one say that the charms of a beautiful woman might 
be " developed " by the application of burnt cork or stain 
to her features. 

The custom of staining light oak to an abnormal color 
has absolutely nothing to recommend it except the vaga- 
ries of a passing fad or fashion. It is similar in taste to 
that of the aborigines who paint their faces and bodies, 
hoping thereby to make themselves more handsome. 
Some furniture manufacturers do not hesitate to stain 
their oak furniture to a bilious green shade, unlike any- 
thing in nature, and the grainer is sometimes forced to try 
and represent it. This practice should be discountenanced 
by all intelligent people. If dark wood is required, there 



PLATE 23 



LIGHT QUARTERED OAK ~ OVERGRAINED 



mmmmmmmi''<W'''»lt'»'i<>»<immiiimm0>>> 



W W» W iili l. l iA i »L^j, lii ju 



»'''' 



'"^iftU'^'iM 



f 



of-' 



f i 









«>->i ■ 



i M > |yty|« « 4yMK:;:i ' .* ';r* 



i lw yWil W l'll WW^ ' " '' * ' " '^ I " i S "" "' ?"'^ *W »^ 



I ,^)p8Bg« li»ilWW II I»Wi l ii|l!JliWUiiHeiJS»W^^ * ^"C1i f lHS! i P 



ii.ihaMfii»ii»ijjiiiiMMiwiiw>wiiii)<BM<»»Ji'ty'*'y*''H' 



yUAKTtKtU UAr\ UAKrv t-rti^JtL, 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 57 

exist an abundance of varieties that are by nature dark 
and can be used for any purpose. But on general prin- 
ciples all natural wood should be finished as nearly as pos- 
sible in its natural color. It will, as a rule, grow darker 
with age, but the man never lived who can improve on 
its natural color or figure. There is a growing sentiment 
favorable to a return to natural effects in furniture, and to 
a large extent the color of the furniture determines the 
color of the finish of the modern house. 

WIPING OUT QUARTERED OAK IN OIL COLOR 

When the work is properly rubbed in, it may be combed 
with a medium or fine rubber comb and overcombed with 
the split steel comb. When the proper effect of pores of 
the wood is obtained (which can readily be done as pre- 
viously directed), a soft cotton rag is folded and the thumb 
placed in the rag, the loose ends of which are held by the 
left hand ; the figure of the wood is then represented by 
removing portions of the combed work, and the intervening 
spaces can be softened by folding a small piece of rag and 
softening the combing with the folded edge of the cloth. 
Don't take off too much color. The edges of the wiped- 
out work may also be treated in this manner or the second 
joint of the forefinger may be drawn against the edge of 
each vein or flake. This will make the color appear 
slightly darker and when lightly blended a very woody 
effect is obtained. A small, flat, short-haired fitch used 
dry on the wet color will produce a similar effect. When 
dry, the work may be overgrained in either oil or water 
color. If oil color is used, some of the rubbing-in color 
thinned out with turpentine may be used. Rub in the 
panel and before the color sets comb with a medium-toothed 
rubber comb over the veins of oak and use the split comb 
to break the continuity of the lines made by the rubber 
comb ; or a short-haired overgrainer may be used and the 
oil color applied directly to the panel without rubbing in, 



58 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

and the lines made by the overgrainer may be serrated 
and cut up by the split steel comb. This work must be 
done with great care to produce the effect of oak wood. 
Too much color will spoil the work and make it look 
" liney " and too regular for natural wood. Vary the shade 
of the overgraining color, also the width of the lines of 
color, and avoid overdoing it. Keep all joints and divi- 
sions cleanly cut, and in quartered oak add a few fine, dark 
veins to some of the plain combed work, not making the 
contrast too sharp. 

GRAINING QUARTERED OAK 

A fairly successful job of dark quartered oak may be done 
on a white pine or whitewood foundation without paint by 
first applying the quartered veins with white shellac, using 
a camel's-hair pencil or a short-bristle fitch. When dry, 
apply your oil graining color and try to comb it before the 
color strikes into the wood. If some extra megilp is used, 
this is possible. The portions of the work touched by the 
white shellac will appear light, and if necessary, they may 
be wiped clean with a rag, or instead of trying to comb the 
work it may be rubbed over with the rag and the surplus 
color removed, leaving the portions light where they have 
been covered with the white shellac. Such treatment can- 
not be very successful unless the wood is free from promi- 
nent heart grains, as they appear through the quartered 
veins and destroy the effect it is intended to produce. 
The check roller may be used to advantage on such work. 
A quick job can be done in this way, as a coat or two 
of shellac or varnish will finish the work in a very short 
time ; yet the process is not recommended except in ex- 
traordinary cases. 

We sometimes see an exemplification of this process 
on cheap oak furniture, where the wood has been sawn 
to produce the heart figure and the attempt is made 
to have it appear as quartered figure by the process 



*f »',!<"«=* 



PLATE 25 




QUARTERED OAK 



513*^":' 



^^^-tr^^^-^^H^ 



•'1 

■ 





;urtr^itKbb w^iv -iN »v', 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 59 

described above. The dark stain, penetrating the pores 
of the wood, leaves the quartered figure represented by 
the shellac standing out boldly on a heart-grain back- 
ground, or the same effect is produced by finishing the 
work light and after applying a dark stain wiping out the 
figure of quartered oak. In either case the deception is 
readily discerned. 

Avoid the temptation to make bold figures all over the 
work. Repose and balance are essential factors in the 
appearance of any piece of figured work, whether it be 
the natural wood or an imitation. 

We frequently see, in the natural wood, very bold 
effects ; but the effect is not pleasing when these are com- 
bined in panelled work by a joiner who pays no atten- 
tion to the figure of the work, but makes the boldest and 
most violent combinations of figure. While we must ad- 
mire the beauty and eccentricity of a bold-veined panel 
of quartered oak, its beauty can be enhanced by keeping 
the surrounding stiles in finer grains and less bold than 
the panelled work ; or if the panels are of fine-grained 
figure, the stiles may be made more bold ; but always avoid 
the appearance of overcrowding the work. 

The poet Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, "and 
since I never dare to be as funny as I can." It would be 
well for some professional grainers to take this advice 
to heart and not try to make their work too eccentric 
or funny, nor try to outdo themselves in the abundance 
and boldness of their work in a limited space. This is 
one of the most common faults of even the professional 
grainer and one of which he is often quite unconscious. 

In these days when we see so much quartered oak in 
furniture and interior finish, it is unwise to mingle the 
heart grains among the quartered veins. If the work 
is to be quartered oak, see that no heart grains are in- 
troduced unless it be on the edge of a board, as is the 
case in the natural wood. There is such infinite variety 



60 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

in the grain of quartered oak that ample opportunity is 
afforded to show the skill of the workman without nec- 
essarily repeating figures. 

FOURTEEN WAYS OF IMITATING QUARTERED OAK 

1. Probably the oldest method of imitating quartered oak 
was by representing it in water color by first marking out, 
with a tallow candle on the painted groundwork, the figure 
intended to be shown on the work. Then rub in the work 
with water colors with the usual proportions of beer (one- 
third to one-half ), and with the blender or with overgrainers 
make the effect of the pores of the wood. When the 
water color is dry, a soft dry cloth is rubbed over the work, 
which will remove the tallow and not disturb the water 
color which has adhered to all parts of the work not cov- 
ered by the tallow. The work can then be overgrained if 
nefcessary. 

2. Another method is to lay in the work in water color 
without making any strong longitudinal grains and allow 
it to dry. Then mark out the pattern of the quartered 
oak figure with a tallow candle and sponge off the surplus 
color. This will leave the veins dark on a light back- 
ground, which is the reverse of the first process. The 
work, if carefully done, can again be gone over in water 
colors, and overgrained, but it is safer to use oil color and 
do the combing in the usual way. The color can then be 
wiped off the veins, and a margin of the groundwork can, 
if necessary, be shown, which will give the work a very 
effective appearance. Avoid strong contrasts of color in 
using this process. 

3. The dark veins may also be represented by using a 
short-haired, flat bristle fitch or a camel's-hair pencil in 
water color. First dampen in the work by using one-half 
stale beer to one-half water. Add a little whiting if the 
color creeps or crawls. Use little or no color in this pro- 
cess. Then take a little dark color in the fitch tool or 



PLATE 27 



wr.'-^^'wmm 




KuC 



LIGHT QUARTERED OAK 



PLATE 28 



-"g^^s ' nymnwt •-ij.r>^a a s : s: '~ ''»'i0!mL.e m:. 'mfteUi- i,-r'^7n~'SX^^^ ■— 





vu::-''v'-o'3iv '';:!" j^i;;- 



i » » j« t« <''«»»'-''»tf«itliw»y*nJ«-<^'-^agyii^ 



JHsaafcaEiaaac aiM ii i ii« M^' i ifiags«B iai > i «»a ! ^aili pt ii<j| 9 B" ''ga 



LIGHT QUARTERED OAK. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 6 1 

pencil and apply the dark veins wherever desired. Use 
the blender very lightly, and when dry, overgrain in oil 
color not too dark. It will be unnecessary to wipe the 
color from the dark veins after the oil color is applied 
unless the graining color is very dark. 

4. Another method to show dark veins on a light back- 
ground is similar to number 3, but instead of the tallow 
candle a little beeswax is melted in turpentine and in lin- 
seed oil, and the water-color work is painted with this 
compound wherever the dark veins are to appear. A little 
dry color added to the beeswax shows more plainly where 
the brush touches the work. After sponging off the water 
color the surplus oil and beeswax may be removed with 
a dry cloth and the work overgrained in oil. 

5. The dark veins may be painted in oil color, directly 
on the groundwork, and after they are thoroughly dry the 
work may be overgrained in water color or in oil color. 
The spaces between the veins can be more successfully 
treated at this time than if the work were all done in the 
wet color. 

6. Another method to produce light veins on a dark 
background is to take some damar varnish, add to it a 
little lampblack, and paint on the work the figures it is 
desired to have appear in light color. When dry, over- 
grain in water color, and endeavor to produce the effect 
of the pores of the wood. When the water color has dried, 
dampen a rag with turpentine and wipe off the black 
veins. The turpentine will not remove the water-color 
graining, but leaves the light veins clear and distinct on a 
dark background. The work can then be overgrained in 
oil color. 

7. Light veins may be produced on a dark background 
by rubbing in the work in water color, and when dry wiping 
out the figure with a wet chamois skin or with a wet rag, 
and when dry overgraining in oil colors. 

8. Dark veins may be represented in the wet oil color 



62 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

after the work has been combed and allowed to set a little 
while, by taking a little oil color in the bristle hner and 
applying it to the work, making the figures of the wood. 
The rubbing-in brush is then used as a blender and the 
work lightly blended in one direction. This will lift the 
graining color and show a rather light vein with a dark 
shadow on one side. Hence care must be taken not to 
lift the color too much, unless it is desired to take it all off 
and show the veins light. This can be done if the color 
is allowed to set and clear thinners be used for the pencil- 
ling color. 

9. There is perhaps no better way to represent the dark 
veins of quartered oak than to paint them in oil on the 
dry combed work. Use color slightly darker than the 
graining color, and add a touch of burnt sienna, as these 
veins are frequently of a reddish tone. A square-edged, 
short-haired bristle Uner makes the best tool for this pur- 
pose. The combing should not be too dark or too strong, 
merely a background for the color. A close examination 
of the dark veins in the real wood will reveal the fact that 
the background in such work, which we try to imitate by 
combing, is, as a rule, very subdued, and the dark veins are 
the most prominent in color of any of the grains ; yet they 
should not be imitated too strong — better to have them 
too faint than too bold. The spaces between the dark 
veins can be glazed over with some thin graining color, 
and the effect of the natural wood is more frequently pro- 
duced in this way. 

10. Another method, and one rarely attempted, or indeed 
necessary to the skilful workman, is to prepare pieces of 
stout manila paper or tin-foil cut into the shape of the 
veins of quartered oak and attach them to the groundwork 
with weak paste. Grain the work, combing the parts 
covered with the paper or the tin-foil. When it is dry, 
remove these pieces from the work, and the figure will 
stand out boldly, especially if the graining color is rather 



PLATE 29 




ENGLISH QUARTERED OAK - POLLARD OAK PANEL 



PLATE 2Q A 




ENGLISH OAK -ROOT OF OAK PANEL 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 63 

dark. This work should be overgrained to produce a 
woody effect. 

11. Quartered oak may be represented on any light 
wood that has a clear grain, and is free from strong heart 
grains, by the use of white shellac, which is used to make 
the figure of the veins, applying the shellac with a bristle 
liner directly to the smooth wood, without previous prepa- 
ration. When the figure has been outlined with the shellac 
and allowed to dry, which will be a few moments after 
being applied, the oil graining color, which has been mixed 
rather oily, and with an extra portion of megilp, is imme- 
diately applied to the work, and the rubber and steel combs 
are used to represent the pores of the wood. The graining 
color can then be easily wiped off the portions of the work 
previously coated with the white shellac. 

The effect is fairly good if the wood is clear grained 
and transparent, but there is generally something in the 
figure of the soft wood which indicates that the work is 
counterfeit. 

In some cases the work is not combed at all, but the 
color is allowed to sink into the wood, and the color on the 
face of the shellac is rubbed off with a soft cloth. In 
exceptional cases this work might pass for oak. It would 
be superior to the simple staining of the wood to an oak 
color, but it could not compare with work done on a painted 
foundation. 

12. When the grain of the wood is clear and free from 
knots or sappy places, it is possible to do an excellent job 
of quartered oak by giving the work two coats of white 
shellac, and using that for a groundwork, graining in oil 
in the usual way. There is a transparency in such work 
that is lacking in any work done on a painted surface, but 
the wood must be clear and free from strong grains of any 
kind or the grain of the wood will spoil any attempt to 
introduce quartered oak veins into it. 

13. Another method of imitating quartered oak is the 



64 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

so-called spirit graining, a method seldom resorted to by 
the trade grainer. 

Mix up bolted whiting with turpentine to a stiff paste ; 
add raw sienna and burnt umber to make the desired shade 
of color ; add some good japan dryer and a small amount 
of linseed oil ; thin the color with turpentine to a working 
consistency. Strain the color and rub in a small piece of 
the work at a time and comb it immediately. Allow it to 
get well set and then use a small square-edged fitch tool 
or liner which has been dipped in a mixture of clear tur- 
pentine and raw or burnt sienna, and with this brush apply 
the markings or veins of quartered oak over the work pre- 
viously combed. When the turpentine has softened the 
spirit color, which will be almost immediately, it can be 
rubbed off clean with a soft rag, leaving the figure light on 
a dark background. Diluted washing soda may be used 
for the pencilling color instead of turpentine, but there is 
danger of spoiling the work unless it is used very care- 
fully. When dry, this work may be overgrained in water 
color. 

14. Lastly, the method followed by probably the greater 
number of grainers who do quartered oak in oil color is to 
wipe out the veins with a soft cotton rag folded over the 
thumb nail, or with a veining horn, which is held in the 
palm of the hand and lays against the under side of 
the thumb, projecting slightly beyond the thumb nail and 
covered with a fold or two of the rag. Some of the old 
grainers use a piece of soft rubber for this purpose, but it 
is difficult to prevent showing a fat edge on the work 
where the uncovered rubber has been used. In some por- 
tions of the world grainers fold the rag into a sort of tape 
and put in the work with the rag drawn over the end of 
the forefinger. 




DARK QUARTERED OAK 



PLATE 31 




DARK QUARTERED OAK 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 65 



CHAPTER XXI 

ENGLISH OAK 

Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna, 
burnt sienna. 

Graining Color. — Raw and burnt sienna, burnt umber, 
Vandyke brown. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Flat brush, sash tool, fitches, 
bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons. 

Tools for Water Colo?: — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash 
tool, fitches, bristle liner, overgrainers, badger blender. 

This wood is the native British oak, grown in Great 
Britain or Ireland. Its growth appears to be much slower 
than that of any of its American cousins. Its grains are 
often quite intricate and eccentric. The quartered oak 
sawn from English oak trees differs very much in figure 
from American quartered oak. As a rule, the grains are 
very much smaller and more eccentric. They are also 
interspersed with dark streaks, which gives the work an 
odd appearance. 

The work is usually done in oil color, mixing a little raw 
sienna with Vandyke brown and then using the regular 
thinners to the desired shade. The combing should be 
more wavy than that intended to represent the grain of 
American oak and should be well cut up with the split 
steel comb. Next, wipe out the fine quartered veins with 
a rag and blend lightly. When dry, overgrain in water 
color and apply the streaks of short, dark grains with the 
lining pencil ; blend at once with the badger blender. 
When dry, overgrain in the usual manner with a thin 
wash of oil color. 



66 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND xMODERN 



POLLARD OAK 

Growid-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna, 
burnt umber. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt umber, Vandyke 
brown, drop-black. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitches, 
bristle liner, combs, etc. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash 
tool, fitches, bristle hner, overgrainer, blender, crayons, etc. 

This wood is the product of intelligent cultivation of the 
oak tree in European countries. The small limbs that 
extend outward are polled or cut into rounded heads close 
to the tree. As the tree grows, these polls or heads are 
included in its growth, and when the tree is cut for timber, 
these heads are cut through by the saw and the result is 
a very beautiful figure of knotted oak. 

Pollard oak may be imitated in either oil or water color. 
The former method is that most commonly used. One of 
the best jobs I have ever seen was done in water color. 
It is most frequently represented by doing the first work 
in oil color and overgraining in water color. The figure of 
the wood consists of groups of dotted knots of greater or 
less diameter and masses of light and shade with both 
quartered figure and heart grains interspersed among 
them. To make these groups in oil color, darken some 
color with burnt umber and a touch of Vandyke brown, 
and apply it to the work in irregular patches with a sash 
tool or fitch tool. Then take a soft rag and work out the 
darker portions to resemble groups of knots. Remove 
some of the color from between the groups of knots and 
comb with the rubber and steel combs. Heart grains of 
the finer figures of quartered oak may be introduced among 
this work. 

When the oil color is dry, the work should be overgrained 
in water color and the knots worked up to show the light 



PLATF 







DARK QUARTERED OAK 



- GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 6^ 

and shade. Some of the lighter portions of the combed 
work may be covered with the water color, and when dry, 
the figure of quartered oak may be represented by using 
a wet chamois skin, a wet rag, or a slice of raw potato, 
either of which will remove the water color from the 
work. The crayon pencil encased in wood is an excellent 
help in doing this wood, and it may be nsed in either oil 
or water color. 

ROOT OF OAK 

Same colors and tools as for Pollard oak. 

This wood presents more eccentricities of figure than 
Pollard oak. It is seldom imitated, but its grain is dis- 
tinctly different from that of Pollard oak. There is in 
this wood a much larger element of twisted and curved 
lines than those seen in Pollard oak. The light and 
shade is also more sharply defined. It can be well repre- 
sented in either oil or water color in the same general 
manner as in the process describing the imitation of Pollard 
oak. 



CHAPTER XXII 

HEART, OR SAP, OAK 

HEART, or sap, oak is the grain as it appears when 
sawn the length of the log from bark to bark. As 
the centre of the log is approached the quartered 
grains begin to appear toward the bark of the tree, disap- 
pearing as they approach the heart or centre of the tree. 

In ordinary white oak, and in much of the red oak, these 
quartered grains are very pronounced when the log is sawn 
parallel to what botanists call the medullary rays. These 
are the hard, bright flakes that appear most plainly in the 



68 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

end of a piece of oak, and which always radiate from the 
centre of the tree toward the bark. In most of the oaks 
used for timber, the log, when cut in this manner, produces 
the most beautiful effects in quartered oak. There are, 
however, some kinds of oak wood in which the medullary 
rays are so short that, although the tree may be sawn per- 
fectly parallel to the medullary rays, the figure produced 
is so fine as to be almost invisible except at very close 
inspection. Such oak, when used for interior finish or 
furniture, is usually sawn to produce the heart grains, which 
are often very peculiar and seldom as graceful as those of 
white or red oak. 

While it must be conceded that the finest work of art is 
inferior to the works of nature, yet in imitating the grains 
of wood it is unwise to spend time and labor in represent- 
ing the inferior patterns of the grains to the neglect of the 
superior ones. After we have done our best we are often 
far enough away from our copy, yet we ought at least to 
have an ideal, and that ideal should be to faithfully repre- 
sent the grains of the particular wood we are imitating 
and endeavor to produce the effect of the more beautiful 
figures of that wood ; not entirely ignoring the plainer 
grains, but whenever the finer figures are called for in the 
work, we should be able to reproduce them. This means 
that all grainers should not only start with well-defined 
ideas of the grains of the different woods ordinarily used 
in interior finish, but they should also possess panels of 
these woods and constantly study them. Keep them in 
view. Let them not be relegated to some obscure corner 
nor hung close to the ceiling of some smoky old shop or 
office. Lose no opportunity to add to their number when- 
ever you can do so. They need not necessarily be all of 
one size, but secure them as large as you can. 

It is difficult to remove our first impressions, and if 
these impressions can be made to conform to the grain of 
the natural wood rather than to somebody's idea of the 



r 



PLATE 33 



t^ 



Mi 



« 



1 



HEART OF OAK -LIGHT 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 69 

wood, we have at least the satisfaction of having started 
right, and are more likely to stick to nature for our ideals 
than to the work of the most skilful grainer, and to make 
all the criticisms of the work of ourselves and others from 
the standpoint of the natural wood rather than from any 
technical excellence of the work. 

WIPING OUT HEART GRAINS OF OAK 

There are a variety of methods of representing the 
grains of this wood. It is probably represented in oil 
color more frequently than in water color, and an excellent 
representation can be made by either method or by grain- 
ing in oil color and overgraining in water color, or vice 
versa. 

For some varieties of quartered oak it is difficult to excel 
work done with a crayon if rightly used. 

In wiping out the heart grains in oil color the same 
general method is used as for wiping out the hearts of 
ash as described in a previous chapter. 

The rag is folded and held over the thumb nail and the 
grains are outlined by removing the graining color from 
the ground color. The heart grains of oak are, as a rule, 
serrated and less rotund than those of almost any other 
wood. They also vary from very coarse to very fine 
and are often found taking an eccentric formation on 
either side of the main heart. Often there are small knots 
in the work, but as a rule these appear on the outside edges 
of the board. 

It would be impossible to fully describe all that can be 
done with a rag and comb in wiping out the heart grains of 
oak. Nothing but diligent practice and careful observation 
of the real wood will help the learner to become proficient 
in this method. 

The work should be well outlined with a clean-cut outer 
edge. When the color sets slightly, the inside edge of the 
outline can be softened with the rag folded or by covering 



70 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

the point of the thumb with the rag. Do not remove too 
much color. When the lines are carried out on the sides of 
the work with a rubber comb, the split steel comb may be 
used to further serrate the outer edges of the heart grains, 
or the blending comb previously described may be used. 

Blend the work lightly with the rubbing-in brush, and 
when the work is dry overgrain it to put in any lights and 
shades. If necessary, use a camel's-hair pencil to make the 
fine checks or medullary rays on the work. The check 
roller can also be used for this purpose. 

Another method of imitating the heart grains is to comb 
the work with a coarse steel comb, overcomb it with the 
medium split steel comb, and put in the heart grains with 
the bristle liner, using some of the rubbing-in color slightly 
darkened with dry burnt umber. Blend immediately and 
draw the color to a dark edge on the outside of the figure. 
If the lines look too continuous, the split steel comb may 
again be used to cut up the lines to resemble the pores of 
the wood. 

Heart grains of oak, especially of some of the western 
oak, may be well imitated in water color; as a rule an 
undercoat of faint stippling is necessary. Use one-third 
beer to two-thirds water and a little burnt umber. When 
this has dried, the heart grains may be put in with the 
bristle liner and carefully blended with the badger blender. 
Care must be taken not to work up the underneath color. 
The work must be done expeditiously. 

The grains are sometimes put in with oil color on the 
water-color stippling. Nothing but continued experiments 
will enable the learner to discover the method best suited 
to his taste or that in his opinion appears to represent the 
wood more closely. 

A thin wash of overgraining color should always be 
applied over the heart grains to produce the most woody 
effects. 

A very good imitation of the dark heart of oak is made 



PLATE 34 




DARK HEART OF OAK 



PLATE 19 




CHESTNUT 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 71 

by using crayons in oil color. Rub in the work with but 
little color in the thinners and make the heart grains with 
a crayon. Cut up the lines with a split steel comb and 
blend lightly with the rubbing-in brush. When dry, the 
work should be overgrained in either oil or water colors. 

Crayons can also be used dry on the stippled background 
in water colors. After the work is outlined, fill a medium- 
sized overgrainer with clean water and draw it lightly over 
the work toward the points of the hearts ; this will wet the 
crayon lines. Blend immediately with the badger blender; 
this will draw the wet crayon lines to a sharp, dark edge 
on one side of the work. Steel combs may be used, if 
necessary, to break up the lines. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

CHESTNUT 

Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, raw sienna, 
burnt umber. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, Vandyke 
brown. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, etc. 

This wood is a native of nearly all temperate climates 
ar ^ makes a good wood for timber. It has a very coarse 
grajii and is very porous, hence it is difificult to keep it 
properly filled so that the weather will not affect it. 

It may be represented in either oil or in water color. 
If the laner, the work should first be finely stippled and 
the heart grains put in with the bristle liner and immedi- 
ately blended with the badger blender. The plain portions 
of the wood may be represented by using the overgrainer. 

For oil graining the color is mixed of two-thirds raw 
sienna to one-third Vandyke brown, adding a little burnt 



72 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

sienna if necessary. Thin with the regular thinners, and 
when the color has been properly applied and allowed 
to set for a little while, the heart grains can be wiped out 
with a rag in the manner directed for ash. Do not wipe off 
too much color. To make the fine secondary grain that 
usually is seen in this wood, use a thin piece of wood 
sharpened to a point, blend in lightly with the rubbing-in 
brush. Use the combs as directed for ash. There is very 
little fine combing seen in chestnut. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

WHITE OREGON CEDAR 

Ground-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, Venetian red. 
Make a warm shade, not too much lead. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, rose pink 
or crimson lake, drop-black. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rags, brushes, fitches, 
overgrainer, mottler, blender. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Usual brushes and combs. 

This wood, which grows on the northern Pacific coast, 
is becoming more common in the eastern part of the 
United States, owing to the scarcity of native white pine 
of good quality. It is doubtful if the wood is as service- 
able as white pine, it being very soft, exceedingly light in 
weight, and readily takes a dent or a bruise. It also splits 
easily if not carefully nailed. It is, however, one of the 
most durable of woods. 

A photograph is exhibited by a Lumberman's Associa- 
tion of California, showing a man at work cutting out 
shingle sections of sound lumber from a fallen log of 
cedar ; arched over the log are three growing cedar trees, 
each estimated to be fifteen hundred years old, showing that 



PLATE 41 






§\ 




OREGON CEDAR 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 73 

although the log had lain all those years it had not rotted, 
but remained sound timber. 

For water color, use beer one part, water three parts ; 
dampen with a sponge, rub in with brush dipped in a little 
of each of the colors named, lay out for light and shade 
and general direction of grain ; blend, and when dry put 
in dark figure of heart grains, which almost always appear 
dark on a lighter ground. Overgrain sides to meet the 
dark pencilled work, taking care not to show a joint or lap. 
When dry, the work can be lightly overgrained in oil, 
accenting the shadows or mottled places in the work. As 
a rule, these seldom appear in the natural wood ; the gen- 
eral effect is quite plain, the variations in color being the 
chief characteristic of the wood. 

In oil graining the work is rubbed in with a mixture of 
the colors named above, the color being of a light shade 
and spread out rather sparingly. The rag can now be 
used to indicate the general direction of the grain. This 
is done by folding the rag loosely in the hand and describ- 
ing on the work the direction of the figure. Have a little 
of the rubbing-in color darkened with burnt sienna and 
lake and slightly thickened with bolted whiting. This 
color is applied with the flat fresco bristle liner to produce 
the figure, and is immediately blended with the rubbing-in 
brush or with a badger blender. Combs may be used to 
carry out the grains on the sides of heart grains or an oil 
overgrainer may be used for this purpose. Some of the 
rift grains are extremely plain and some of the figure work 
quite bold ; it depends on how the timber is cut. A slight 
overgrain in oil or water gives depth and transparency to 
the work. Some varieties show mottled or bird's-eye 
figure, and can be imitated in the manner directed for 
maple or cherry. 

There is considerable difference in the color of different 
boards of this wood ; the colors range from very light to 
very dark. The light shades are similar in color to cypress 



74 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

or light ash, generally of a warm tone, and the dark shades 
are a rich reddish brown approaching to black. 



CHAPTER XXV 

YELLOW PINE 

Gro7ind-color. — White lead, medium chrome yellow. 

Graining Color. — Yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt 
sienna, rose pink. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, 
fitches, bristle fresco liner, combs, rags, etc. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponges, rubbing-in brush, 
sash tool, fitch tools, bristle liner, overgrainers. 

This wood is a native of the southern portion of the 
United States. It is often the drained pitch pine or long- 
leaved pine tree which has been killed by taking away 
the sap to make turpentine. 

This wood is used much more frequently in the United 
States than formerly, partly because of the scarcity of 
white pine and partly because of its boldness and variety 
of figure. For the latter reason it is finished in varnish, 
and often takes the place of white pine, which formerly 
was painted and grained to imitate oak in kitchens and 
rooms of ordinary dwellings. It is difficult to make a door 
of this wood which will stand extreme changes of tempera- 
ture. The joints open and look badly in a comparatively 
short time, so that often doors of another wood are used, 
and are painted and grained to represent the yellow 
pine. No door stands atmospheric changes so well as 
one made from white pine, unless we except the doors 
which we are promised in the near future which are 
to be made of compressed wood-pulp without joints, 
the mouldings being compressed with the door. This 



LATE 42 




GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 75 

wood has a figure very similar to that of Norway pine, 
and the colors used are similar ; for some of the warm, 
soft tones a little crimson lake must be used, also a very 
little drop-black, but care must be taken not to produce a 
greenish tone if the black is used over a bright yellowish 
ground-color. The lake is best used as a shading color to 
be applied over the work in a thin wash to bring it to the 
desired shade. The faint mottled effect peculiar to this 
wood is obtained in a similar way, using the mottler in 
water color, or a soft rag if oil is the vehicle. 

This wood may be represented in either oil or water 
color, but my preference is for the former. First, because 
it can be more quickly rubbed in and also because you do 
not have to wait for the weather should the temperature be 
below freezing. 

Mix the graining color with a little raw sienna, a little 
yellow ochre, and a touch of burnt sienna ; thin with the 
thinners previously described. The work is combed with 
a rubber comb, and the grains applied with a fitch tool or 
bristle liner. 

PITCH PINE, OR HARD PINE 

Ground-color. — White lead, chrome yellow, Venetian 
red. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt 
umber. 

Tools. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch tool, bristle 
liner, overgrainer, combs, rags, etc. 

This wood is the long-leaf pine of the South Atlantic 
and Gulf states, and from its sap is made the spirits of 
turpentine. 

This wood is used for floors more than any other wood 
in the United States, and for this purpose is generally 
sawed in a manner similar to quartered oak. The rings of 
annual growth are intersected by the saw as nearly as pos- 
sible at right angles, so that the grains run very nearly 



ye GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

parallel and wear much more evenly for floors than when 
cut with a heart figure. 

For standing finish the wood is sawed in the usual man- 
ner, and the grains are often very bold and strong, showing 
strong contrasts. It is sometimes necessary to add a little 
Venetian red to the pencilling color to make it sufficiently 
dense and opaque to match the dark heart grains. 

Prepare a mixture of one-third raw sienna, one-third 
burnt sienna, and one-third burnt umber, and thin it to a 
very fluid consistency- — ^in fact, a mere wash. This is for 
the rubbing-in color. Add to this color about one-half gill 
of raw linseed oil for each half pint of color which has 
been thinned with the regular thinners. Spread this color 
rather sparingly on the work. Then take some thick color, 
made mostly of burnt sienna and burnt umber (with a touch 
qf Venetian red if necessary), and pencil in the strong heart 
grains, using the flat fresco bristle liner ; blend with the 
rubbing-in brush. It is sometimes necessary to remove 
nearly all the rubbing-in color with a rag before beginning 
to pencil in the color. In fact, excellent work can be done 
by pencilling the color on the dry ground work, and when 
dry, rub in lightly and comb or mottle the work whenever 
necessary. 

When the work is to be combed, it will be necessary to 
slightly thicken the color. An overgrainer may successfully 
be used in oil colors. Fasten a bone comb, teeth upward, 
on the inside edge of the pot, the teeth of the comb being 
slightly above the edge of the pot. Dip the overgrainer in 
the color and draw it through the teeth of the comb ; this 
will separate the bristles so that the color can be evenly 
applied. The piped overgrainer can also be used with 
success. 

To produce the best effect the work, when dry, should 
be overgrained, using some very thin color and if necessary 
adding a little crimson lake and drop-black to the over- 
graining color. 



PLATE 43 




PITCH PINE 
or Hard Pine 



PLATE 39 





CYPRESS 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 'jj 

This wood can be well represented in water color ; but my 
preference is for oil color, as the heart grains are bold and 
prominent and ample time is allowed to blend the work 
in oil color without drawing up the color to a thin, sharp 
edge. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

CYPRESS 

Ground-color. — White lead tinted with raw and burnt 
sienna. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop- 
black. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, bristle 
liner, overgrainer, combs, rags, etc. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash 
tool, fitches, overgrainers, blender, and bristle liner. 

This wood grows plentifully in the southern portions of 
the United States and is being used for interior finish much 
more frequently, owing to the scarcity of white pine and 
its increased cost ; it is also much more in evidence than in 
former years, largely for the reasons stated for the increasing 
use of yellow pine. Some of its figures are very beautiful ; 
but it is a very soft and porous wood and easily bruised or 
dented, and hence is not as desirable for interior finish as 
pine. We rarely find it properly finished, being composed 
of alternate layers of soft and hard fibres. The grain will 
lift unless it is properly filled in the beginning, and this 
filler should be a hard, non-porous substance and sufificiently 
transparent not to obscure the natural beauty of the wood. 

The grain of cypress resembles that of hard pine, but is 
broader in the heart and finer grained ; there is also more 
contrast between the light and dark portions of the growth. 
The ground is slightly darker and more yellow than that 



78 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

used for oak. The graining color is made of raw and 
burnt sienna and burnt umber, and is mixed in oil. When 
the color is rubbed in, the hearts are wiped out in the 
usual manner or pencilled in. A rubber comb can be used 
to make portions of the heart by occasionally using it in 
the finer portions of the wiped-out hearts. Great care 
should be taken that the lines made by the comb closely 
follow those made by hand, and that they are equally dis- 
tinct. The fitch tool is often used in matching cypress ; 
the combing is mostly fine and rather straight. Never use 
the steel combs over the lines made by the rubber comb. 
The work may be shaded with some of the graining color 
to which some black has been added and the whole thinned 
with turpentine, but the work is ordinarily finished without 
shading. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

QUARTERED SYCAMORE 

Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna, burnt sienna. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop- 
black. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, sash tool, rubbing-in 
brush, stippler, blender, bristle liner, camel's-hair pencil, 
crayons. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, flat fresco bristle liner, camel's-hair pencil, crayons. 

This wood grows plentifully in the northern portion of 
the United States and is found in nearly all temperate 
climates. It attains great height and girth, but with age it 
invariably decays in the centre. It is found plentifully in 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Senator Voorhes of Indiana 
was called by his colleagues at Washington " the tall syca- 
more of the Wabash.*' 



PLATE 14 




QUARTERED SYCAMORE 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 79 

If the tree is sawed in the ordinary manner, it presents 
a very subdued grain and scarcely any figure is shown ; 
but when cut from the centre of the log toward the bark, 
or "quarter sawed," as the lumbermen call it, the figure 
produced by the medullary rays is exceedingly beautiful 
and is very difficult to imitate, as it is full of minute grains 
which cannot be ignored if a faithful imitation is to be 
produced. 

My preference is for water color if the work is to be 
well done. Use one-fourth stale beer to three-fourths water, 
or the same proportions of vinegar and water. First dampen 
in the work with the sponge or rubbing-in brush, use dry 
whiting if it crawls, and take sparingly, on a sash tool, a 
little raw sienna and a touch of burnt sienna ; add a little 
drop-black, or keep the black in a separate fitch tool and 
blend in with the other colors. A background of shaded 
veins must be made similar to those in mahogany, but much 
less pronounced. Draw the blender lightly through these 
veins and blend lightly across the grain. This should pro- 
duce a background effect for the fine veins which are 
formed by the medullary rays in the natural wood. The 
stippler or the badger blender may be lightly used across 
the grain to suggest the fine quartered veins. In some 
pieces of the work the longitudinal streaks or veins may 
be omitted and a cross-stippled background produced, but 
it must be done with very thin color and present a faint 
suggestion of the quartered veins. 

When this has been allowed to dry, the dark veins, 
which make the beauty of the grains, are put in with a 
brown or a reddish brown crayon pencil. The work can 
then be varnished before being overgrained, or it may be 
overgrained in oil color directly over the water color. Care 
must be taken to have the brushes clean and the color very 
thin, merely a wash of one-third linseed oil to two-thirds 
turpentine, adding a sufficient quantity of liquid dryer. 
The brush should not be too much worn or it will be 



8o GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

coarse and rub up some of the fine crayon markings. A 
camel's-hair pencil may be used in water color or in oil 
color to put in the fine quartered grains, but the crayon 
process is by far the most rapid. 

In doing the work wholly in oil the groundwork should 
be nearly flat. The graining coloris prepared very thin and is 
composed of a very little raw sienna, burnt sienna, and drop- 
black. When a panel is rubbed in, take a sash tool charged 
with some darker color and block out the background of 
longitudinal veins. They must not be made too dark. Two 
or three shades darker than the rubbing-in color is sufifi- 
ciently strong. Then take a soft rag and remove portions 
of the color between the dark veins ; blend the panel length- 
wise with the rubbing-in brush and then lightly crosswise 
and always in one direction. The crayon pencil can then 
be used, and if the ground-color has been properly pre- 
pared and applied, the dark veins can be represented with 
considerable accuracy. If the ground-color is too glossy, 
the crayon color will not adhere to the work and the color 
must be applied with a very small bristle fitch tool or with 
a camel's-hair pencil. The work should, in all cases, be 
overgrained if the best results are to be obtained. The 
overgraining color being only a thin wash to give depth 
to the work, dark veins can be produced in the overgrain- 
ing, or those already put in can be accented if necessary. 

Especial care should be taken in imitating this wood to 
have the bolder figures appear in the panels, and the 
grains in the stiles, especially in the long stiles or rails, 
should be more subdued. It is well to use crayons of 
different shades, putting the darker figures on the panels, 
and, in case the panel is very large, using two or more 
crayons on the same panel. 

By close observation of the real wood we will find that 
often in the same panel there appear streaks or veins of a 
lighter or darker shade from those on either side. We can 
represent this peculiarity by using different colored crayons, 



PLATE 35 





mHITlitfit 



CHERRY— MOTTLED 
Ready to overgrain 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 8 1 

or, in case we are using the camel's-hair pencil, by darken- 
ing the color or by making it lighter. 

Quartered sycamore is seldom imitated and a good imi- 
tation might cost nearly as much as the real wood, as a man 
could easily spend a whole day on one side of a door if the 
work was to match some fine specimen of the wood. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

CHERRY 

Groitnd-color. — White lead, yellow ochre, Venetian red. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt 
umber, drop-black. 

Too/s for Oil. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitches, 
combs, rags, bristle Uner, overgrainer. 

Tools for Water Color. — Crayon, sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
sash tools, fitch tools, blender, bristle liner, overgrainer. 

This wood grows throughout the northern portion of 
the American continent, and when finished natural is 
often as light in color as ash and its markings are very 
subdued and quiet in character. It is seldom finished in 
its natural color, as the popular idea of cherry color is one 
much nearer to the color of the fruit than of the color of 
the wood, so that it is more frequently stained to a mahog- 
any color, and being a dense hard wood it can be most 
successfully stained to any depth of color. 

Furniture made from this wood and stained is frequently 
sold for mahogany, and it often requires a close inspection 
to detect the deception. 

Cherry may be well imitated in either water color or oil. 
The base of color for a natural cherry is raw sienna 
deepened with a little burnt sienna and a touch of drop- 
black. If a very light shade is desired, burnt umber will 



82 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

darken the color sufficiently. If the color is to be a deep 
reddish shade, the base of the graining color will be burnt 
sienna deepened with burnt umber, adding a little black if 
necessary. The color should be applied rather sparingly, 
if oil color is used, as most of the figure is pencilled on the 
work with the bristle liner and if there is a surplus of color 
on the work, it will not blend successfully. 

For oil color, rub in as usual ; then take a little of the 
graining color and darken it slightly by adding dry burnt 
umber. Mix the color in a separate tin and use it to apply 
the figured grains to the work. The flat fresco bristle 
liner is an excellent tool for this purpose, although some 
grainers prefer a camel's-hair pencil. 

The mottled effect of cherry may be obtained in oil 
color by using a fitch tool with a little of the rubbing-in 
color or a little of the darkened pencilling color, and with 
it apply the mottled dark markings in the general direction 
of those seen in the wood. Blend lightly crosswise with 
the rubbing-in brush in the general direction of the mot- 
tlings ; then blend lightly one way, lengthwise of the grain. 
If a pencilled growth is to be applied over the mottling, 
care must be taken to blend it in the same direction, length- 
wise, as the mottling, otherwise the effect of the mottling 
is largely destroyed. 

The color should be allowed to set slightly before either 
mottling or pencilling is attempted, as if done too soon the 
colors will blend together and the sharp and clean effect of 
the grains will be lost. On the other hand the work must 
not be allowed to set too much, as the wet color will lift 
the grain too much and the effect will be too pronounced 
and unnatural. 

The piped overgrainer, or the short-haired overgrainer, 
may be used in oil very successfully in imitating this wood. 
Mottle the background as directed, and when slightly set, 
use the overgrainer in oil color and blend quickly with the 
rubbing-in brush. 




»>»S«*«'!3*S«S<fi«^ 



CHERRY— OVERGRAINED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 83 

Combs can be used to represent the light, plain portions 
of the wood, the medium and fine steel combs being best 
suited for this purpose. The straw matting may also be 
used and will be found useful in carrying out the fine lines 
on either side of a panel where the pencil has been used to 
put in the heart grains. 

Some of the finer heart grains may be wiped out with a 
rag, but the wood can best be represented by pencilling in 
the color. In fact, the heart grains of nearly all the hard 
woods can be most successfully imitated by pencilling 
rather than by wiping out the color. There is, in cherry, a 
fine secondary grain which must not be ignored. 

The mottled effect of cherry wood can be very closely 
represented by using a mottler in water color on the ground- 
work and overgraining in oil color. In fact, the whole of 
the work can be done in water color, and an oil glaze of the 
proper shade gives it the necessary depth to make a very 
natural appearance. 

A close examination of this wood will reveal the fact 
that its heart grains are very finely outlined, and a very 
small fresco liner and rather thin color should be used or 
the grains will be made too prominent. The crayon pencil 
encased in wood, or the soft crayon of home manufacture, 
may be used with success for all heart grains in both oil 
and water colors. 

In graining this wood wholly in water colors the work 
is first sponged over with stale beer diluted with one-half 
clean water ; then apply the graining color very thin, and 
while wet lay out the mottled effect, using the fitch tool 
with color slightly darkened, or gathering the color with 
the mottler and blending lightly with the badger blender. 
When the mottling has dried, the grains can be put in with 
the bristle fresco liner or with the piped or short-haired 
overgrainer. Care must be taken to blend the work 
quickly and draw the color to a sharp edge on the outside 
of the heart grains. By using two-thirds stale beer in the 



84 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

mottling color, and little or none in the pencilling color, the 
underneath color is not so readily softened by the wet 
pencil, and if carefully blended will not lift the underneath 
color to any great extent. 

Some grainers use an oil pencilling color over the water- 
color mottling. Thin the pencilHng color with raw Hnseed 
oil and benzine to which a little liquid dryer has been 
added. This color does not blend so well as the water 
color, but has the merit of lessening the danger of rubbing 
up the dry mottled color. 

To obtain the best results, the work, whether done in oil 
or in water color, should be overgrained. For a very bright 
shade a Httle crimson lake with a touch of drop-black may 
be added to the regular oil color and the whole thinned 
forty to fifty per cent with turpentine. Give the work a 
very thin coat of this color, taking pains to spread it evenly 
and quickly, being careful that it does not rub up the 
underneath color, if the latter has been done in oil. 

In dismissing this wood from further consideration, a 
word of advice to young beginners will not be out of place. 
Try to make a difference in both the character and the 
relative thickness of the grains of cherry from that of any 
other wood except birch or maple. The most common 
fault of imitations of cherry is that the heart grains are made 
too prominent as well as too thick. Look at the wood and 
see how fine some of the heart grains appear ; nothing less 
wide than a fine camel's-hair pencil or a fine crayon could 
be used to represent such grains. 

A faint stippled or porous effect is often observed in 
some varieties of cherry. There are also some portions of 
the tree which show, when cut parallel to the medullary 
rays, a very pronounced quarter-sawed effect similar 
in character to quartered sycamore. But the veins in 
cherry, as a rule, are light on a darker ground, while those 
of sycamore are, as a rule, just the opposite. A similar 
effect is produced by using the stippler to make faint 





». -*Bv!s»e»'*«MT»w~^(!S*Sr--' 




CHERRY— OVERGRAINED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 85 

checked markings across the grain, stippling lightly across 
the panel, having very little color on the work. This 
should only be done on the work at rare intervals. The 
faint porous effect obtained by stippling in the usual man- 
ner is much more frequently seen. The stippling color 
should be very thin or the effect produced is liable to sug- 
gest mahogany rather than cherry. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

CURLY BIRCH 

Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna, Venetian red. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt 
umber, drop-black. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags, piped and short 
bristle overgrainer, crayons. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash 
tool, fitch tools, flat fresco bristle liner, blender, overgrainer, 
crayon. 

This wood grows in northern North America and in 
nearly all temperate cHmates. It is very similar to cherry 
in general character and often is stained to represent 
stained cherry. Being of about the same density, it makes 
a very successful imitation. The mottlings of curly birch 
are invariably more pronounced than those of cherry, and 
if the wood is stained, the mottled effect is very positive, on 
account of the stain penetrating the ends of the pores 
of the mottled wood, which readily absorb it. 

If the wood is to be represented in its natural color, three- 
fourths raw sienna and one-fourth burnt umber may be 
used, thinned to a transparent stain ; but if a stained effect 
is wanted, burnt sienna and burnt umber must be used ; 



86 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

also a little drop-black, the shade of color depending on the 
color of the wood to be matched. 

For oil graining the work is first rubbed in and allowed 
to set slightly, then the mottled effect can be produced by 
using the fitch tool in color slightly darkened with a little 
burnt umber. This color is lightly blended with the rub- 
bing-in brush and allowed to set still longer. Then pencil 
in the growth with the bristle hner, blending one way. 
Carry out the side lines of the heart grains with combs 
or with the overgrainer. 

The piped overgrainer or the short-haired overgrainer 
may be used in oil over the mottling with excellent effect. 

There is, in some varieties of curly birch, a warm pink- 
ish tinge which cannot successfully be matched with burnt 
sienna. In such cases a little rose pink or crimson lake 
may be used to advantage. A little drop-black should be 
mixed with the lake and the color thinned to a very fluid 
consistency ; it is best used as an overgraining or glazing 
color, although a little of the lake may be added to the 
graining color. The pinkish portions of the wood are 
found more rarely than the reddish brown to gray toned 
portions, hence it would not be wise to stain all the color 
to a pinkish tone ; but where such pieces are desired, use a 
little of the lake or pink to brighten the color already 
applied to the work. 

Before the heart grains are put in with the pencil, brush, 
or bristle liner it is well to outline with a soft rag the gen- 
eral direction in which the heart grains are to run. Fold 
the rag several times and with sweeping strokes wipe off 
portions of the color, so that when the pencilled work is 
put in the color will not run. If mottling is to be done 
on such portions, it should be done before the pencilling is 
applied. 

To represent this wood in water color, the colors to be 
rubbed in should be kept in separate vessels and a little of 
each color taken 'up in the large sash tool. This can be 



PLATE 40 




'€ W M 



r~ 









k- 






CURLY EIRCH 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 87 

spread out with the rubbing-in brush and a mottler or fitch 
tool used to represent the mottled curly markings. Care 
must be taken to have the mottling irregular and not run- 
ning too parallel. The motthngs of curly birch, while very 
pronounced, are also very irregular, and the color must be 
broken up into patches of strong mottles intersected with 
bright portions of the wood. When the mottling is dry, 
the heart grains can be put in with the bristle Hner or 
with the camel's-hair pencil and blended to bring the 
dark edges of the figure on the outside of the grain. 

The piped overgrainer or the short-haired overgrainer 
can be used to overgrain the mottled work or to put 
the grain in the plainer portions of the work. A thin 
glaze of overgraining color is necessary to finish the 
work whether it be done in oil or in water color. 



CHAPTER XXX 

BLACK WALNUT 

Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, white lead, Venetian red, 
burnt umber. 

Graining Color. — Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke 
brown. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash 
tool, bristle liner, crayons. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons. 

This wood is a native of the middle portion of the 
United States and of the southern portion of Canada west. 
It is now seldom used for finish in the East, owing to its 
scarcity and consequent high price. 

When the proper ground-color has been applied and 



88 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

allowed ample time to dry, the work should be lightly- 
sandpapered and stippled in water color. Use Vandyke 
brown ground in water and burnt umber in equal parts. 
For a lighter shade of walnut the Vandyke brown may be 
omitted. The colors ought to be thinned with not more 
than one-third to one-half stale beer to one-half to two- 
thirds clean water. This is amply strong to bind the color 
to the work. The figure can then be put in by using fitch 
tools and overgrainers directly on the work as stippled, 
which is the method preferred by many artistic workmen. 
Or, when dry, it may be rubbed in in oil color, using straight 
burnt umber for the graining color thinned with one-third 
raw linseed oil to two-thirds spirits of turpentine, adding 
about one gill of good liquid dryer to the half gallon of 
thinners. The grains can then be put in with fitch tools 
and overgrainers. Combs can be used and the work 
finished, or it may be wiped out with a soft cotton rag. 
Some old grainers prefer graining the work in oil, and 
stippling in water color when the oil color is dry. 

In some parts of the country the colors used for black 
walnut are burnt sienna and lamp black in varying propor- 
tions, but with such colors it is easy to produce striking 
contrasts rather than a good imitation of the wood. There 
is no doubt that a skilful workman can do a good job with 
these colors, but the average shade of black walnut is 
much nearer the tone of burnt umber than that of burnt 
sienna or black or either of them in combination. 

The average grains to represent heart growths are much 
too strong, nor is there the contrast between the edges of 
the figure and the general tone of the wood that some 
grainers seem so anxious to produce. The quiet and sub- 
dued growths are far the most numerous. The bolder 
figure challenges attention, and is more readily discovered 
to be an imitation. 

The custom of plentifully besprinkling imitations of 
American walnut with knots is most absurd. It is true 



PLATE 48 



STIPPLING FOR WALNUT OR MAHOGANY 



BLACK WALNUT - OVERCRAINED 



PLATE 49 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 89 

that an occasional knot may be found in the wood, but 
some grainers seem to delight in putting more knots into 
one walnut door than could be found in a cart load of 
walnut timber. A knot may be beautifully imitated, but 
it is generally considered an imperfection in the natural 
wood, and bears the same relation to an otherwise fine 
panel that a wart or mole would on the face of an other- 
wise beautiful woman. There are many lights, shadows, 
and curly places in the wood that are not imperfections, 
but which add to its beauty, and these can be represented 
with good taste, and the imitation of knots can be left to 
the amateur. 

Sharp color contrasts are to be avoided if the repose 
and general effect of the work is to be considered. It is 
always permissible to make a slight difference in the color 
of the stiles and rails of a door, but not a violent contrast. 
We seldom see such effects in a hard-wood door, and no 
intelligent joiner would, of his own choice, put into one 
door such various colored pieces of wood as we sometimes 
see imitated by clever grainers. 

Then again, some men will always want to have the 
mouldings a lighter or a darker shade than the rest of the 
door, so that in conjunction with the other shades the effect 
produced is far from reposeful, and although finely exe- 
cuted, may lack the' primary suggestion of being natural 
wood, which should be the first consideration in all imita- 
tions of wood. 

The foregoing remarks as to color effects may apply 
with equal force to all woods, but particularly to walnut or 
other dark woods. 

I have heard of two carpenters who spent a week in 
sorting over oak timber, to which a coat of oil had been 
applied, in order to select the wood as nearly as possible 
of the same shade so that one large room should be finished 
in the most artistic manner. This is quite opposite in effect 
from that which some grainers strive to obtain when they 



90 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

make the color contrasts we frequently see in one room. 
It is wise to refrain from extremes in graining, as in other 
things, and a temperate course is, in the main, apt to give 
the best satisfaction. The work should not look insipid 
nor lack character ; still, it need not offend by presenting 
too violent contrasts. Aim at quiet and reposeful effects 
rather than at pronounced and glaring work. Keep all 
joints and divisions clean and the effect will be repaid by 
a more woody appearance. 

CRAYONS FOR WALNUT GRAINING 

A very good imitation of black walnut may be produced 
by the use of crayons in either water or oil color. If used 
in water color, the stippling is first done in the usual man- 
^ner on the groundwork, and when dry the crayon is used 
on the dry stippling to put in the heart grains. The out- 
line should not be too bold and the fine lines at the open 
ends of the growths can be carefully put in. A soft piece 
of rag or a stiff dust brush should be used to slightly soften 
the harshness of the lines, as left by the dry crayon, other- 
wise the work is apt to appear too bold. An overgrainer 
charged with water color, the bristles having been divided 
with a bone comb, may be used to carry out the lines, on 
either side of the hearts, to the edge of the panel. Care 
must be taken to have the color in the overgrainer as 
nearly as possible of the same shade as that of the crayon. 
It may be kept a Httle lighter rather than darker. When 
dry, glaze over with a thin wash of oil thinner, using a small 
portion of burnt umber in the color. If the crayon is used 
in oil, the work must first be grounded in rather flat ; when 
thoroughly dry, rub in with very thin color mixed about 
one-half oil and one-half turpentine, adding a very little 
dryer. Then outline your hearts with the crayon ; blend 
and fill in the sides with overgrainer in oil, or rub in the 
sides of panels with a little darker color and use combs. 



PLATE 50 




1 



CURLY WALNUT 



PLATE 51 




BLACK WALNUT -BURL PANEL 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 91 

When dry, the work ought to be shaded or glazed in oil, 
using one-third oil to two-thirds turpentine and very little 
dryer. 

CURLY WALNUT 

Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, white lead, Venetian red. 

Graining Color. — Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke 
brown. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash 
tool, bristle liner. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags. 

This wood, in America, is a fine variety of black walnut, 
and grows in the same territory. It is generally obtained 
from an old tree, but the effect may be produced by a 
method of cutting veneers from a log on the outside, 
always following the circumference of the log. The 
American variety is less pronounced in its lights and 
shades than the European, and the colors, as a rule, are 
much lighter. The same colors used for black walnut will 
answer for this wood, and the same general method of 
treatment will suffice. The strong shadows across the grain 
may be put in wholly in the oil color, or they may be done 
in the water color and accented in oil after being over- 
grained. In all cases the work should first be stippled in 
water color to produce the effect of the pores of the wood. 



FRENCH WALNUT BURL 

Gronnd-color. — Yellow ochre, white lead, Venetian red. 

Graining Color. — Burnt umber darkened with Vandyke 
brown. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
stippler, mottler, blender, overgrainer, pencil fitch, sash 
tool, bristle liner. 



92 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tool, flat fresco bristle liner, combs, rags. 

This wood, as its name implies, is grown in France, and 
is secured from excrescences or burls which form on the 
side of the tree. These are sawed or cut, and the grain 
produced is very fine. 

This wood was formerly very much used on the better 
class of furniture, for panels, and it was sometimes used 
on doors. Being, as a rule, but a thin veneer, it is unsuit- 
able for use in exposed situations or in any climate of 
extreme temperatures. The burl is a wart or excrescence 
which is cut from the side of the tree and sawn or sliced 
into thin veneer. 

French walnut may be represented in either water color 
or oil. Most grainers prefer the former method, as the 
work can be executed more expeditiously and over- 
grained at once. The tools are the same as those used for 
black walnut, as are also the colors — burnt umber and 
Vandyke brown. For the very light portions a little burnt 
sienna may be added to the color. If the work is to be 
done in oil, rub in the color rather dry, and with the sash 
tool dipped in some dark color cover the portions of the 
work which you desire to appear dark ; then with a piece 
of soft rag remove the color where the light places are to 
appear, and work up the dark places with the rag until the 
desired effect is obtained. Blend Hghtly with the dry 
brush, and add lines and curves with the fitch tool. Then 
stipple the light places with the flat brush. When the oil 
color is dry, the work may be shaded or overgrained in 
either oil or water color. 

If the work is to be done in water color, use a sponge 
for blocking out the lights and add dark color with a fitch 
tool ; mottle and blend lightly, and with the fitch tool and 
overgrainer put in the grains over the mottled work. 
When dry, it may be lightly varnished and overgrained in 
water color. 



PLATE 52 



ITALIAN WALNUT 



PLATE 53 



2M£ 



CIRCASSIAN WALNUT 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 93 

A careful study of the grains of this wood will show that 
the darker lines or veins are sharp on one edge and 
softened on the other. Or, in many cases, a vein seems 
to come from below the surface, and appears only as a 
sharp edge on the work. Do not have the figures too bold. 
Vary the work and reverse it in opposite panels, as that is 
the method most frequently adopted by the joiners in con- 
structing the natural wood. 

Years ago this wood was frequently represented on the 
panels of outside doors, but of late years in this vicinity 
very little French walnut is imitated. Dark oak is the 
reigning favorite for outside work. 

ITALIAN WALNUT 

Colors and tools the same as for black walnut. 

This beautiful wood is seldom seen in this vicinity and is 
very seldom imitated. Its grains have many features 
similar to those of French burl walnut. 

It can be represented in water colors. It will be neces- 
sary to use a little drop-black in the graining color, mostly 
in the pencilling color, as these grains appear quite dark on 
the lighter background. 

Rub in the work and with a sponge block out the general 
direction of the grains. Follow these with the fitch tool 
and blend lightly, always using the badger blender for 
softening the harsh look of the work. The mottler should 
be frequently used. When dry, overgrain lightly and 
blend. 

CIRCASSIAN WALNUT 

Colors and tools the same as for black walnut. 

This wood is found in the southern portions of Europe, 
and is usually a thin veneer applied to a background of 
inferior wood. 

It is best represented in water colors, and when dry may 
be lightly overgrained in oil. A little drop-black may be 



94 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

necessary in making the darkest lines or veins, but, as a 
rule, the Hues while very pronounced are very thin and 
should be drawn to an edge with the blender. The tone 
of the color of the wood suggests the use of more bjack in 
our color if we would faithfully represent its natural color. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

MAHOGANY 

Ground-color. — Yellow ochre, orange chrome, Venetian 
red, red lead, and white lead. 

Graining Color. — Burnt sienna, rose pink, Vandyke 
brown, crimson lake. 

'Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
stippler, mottler, cut tools, sash tool, fitch tools, bristle 
liner, overgrainer, blender. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, fitch tools, sash 
tool, bristle liner, overgrainer. 

This wood is a native of America, and some of its most 
beautiful timber is sawn from logs cut in Honduras and 
Mexico. It also grows in Cuba and in central and 
northern South America. There are also several varieties 
which are found in Asia and in Africa. 

The old feather-grained mahogany of Honduras is 
probably the most beautiful of all the varieties and is 
exceedingly difficult to imitate. I have been told that the 
wood at the butt of the old Honduras mahogany tree is so 
dense and so difficult to cut that the natives build a plat- 
form around the tree some distance from the ground and 
cut the tree from that point owing to the wood being softer 
and more easily chopped away. 

Of the many varieties of mahogany that are used for 
furniture we find but few that are used for interior finish. 



PLATE 44 




MAHOGANY— MOTTLED PANEL 



PLATE 45 





MAHOGANY- FIGURED 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 95 

These are generally of the lighter shades of the wood and 
frequently they lack any bold figure. Such mahogany is 
most frequently stained in color, to represent the more 
valuable timber from which the best furniture is made. 

This variety is not so difficult to imitate as the mottled 
or feathered variety. A good background and proper 
stippling are the essential elements of success. Prepare 
the stippHng color with Vandyke brown ground in water, 
and thin with one part stale beer to three parts water. 
Stipple in all portions of the work intended to be finished 
plain ; where the feather is to be represented, the main 
part of the work must be done in water color. After the 
stippling is dry, the oil color may be applied ; this is made 
by mixing one part burnt sienna, one part rose pink, and 
one part Vandyke brown thinned with the regular oil thin- 
ners. Apply this color evenly. Then take some Van- 
dyke brown thinned with turpentine and Hquid dryer (as 
this color is one of the slowest to dry), and with a fitch 
tool put in the darker veins. Blend with the flat brush 
lengthwise, then lightly crosswise, drawing the color to a 
sharp, dark edge on the sides of the darker veins. If 
necessary, the flat brush may be used as a stippler in the 
oil color and the work lightly stippled across the grain or 
lengthwise as may be preferred. 

If the mottled effect is desired, it may be produced by the 
use of a small fitch tool in the thin color, making the mot- 
tlings across and between the darker veins, or the stippling 
color may be bound down with a thin coat of varnish and 
the mottUng done in water color on the dry varnish. 

The short bristle overgrainer may be used to overgrain 
the work in oil, and when so used, the work must be blended 
lightly across the grain and always in one direction. 

The feather veins of mahogany can be represented 
wholly in water color ; when the panel is sponged in, the 
work may be rubbed in with the rubbing-in brush. Then 
darken the centre of the panel where the feather is to be 



g6 GRAINLNG, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

represented, using the clear Vandyke brown for this pur- 
pose. Use a sponge to remove portions of the color in the 
general direction of the finished work ; then with the cut 
tool or mottler, work out the general direction of the 
feathered work and blend in the edges of the darker veins. 
If the color dries before the work is satisfactory, it can 
be carefully wet over with clean water applied with a 
short-haired overgrainer and the cut tool or mottler again 
used to bring out the bright portions of the work. 

It is impossible to describe with accuracy the exact 
method to produce this intricate and compUcated wood. 
Nothing but a careful and painstaking study of actual 
examples of the wood will give the student the proper 
ideas of how it ought to be represented. When the 
mottled and veined effect of the feather grain is dry, it 
should be overgrained with some thin Vandyke brown, 
using the piped overgrainer or the short-haired over- 
grainer. The latter is preferable, as the hair can be 
divided into irregular portions by the bone comb and the 
work will look less mechanical than if done wholly with an 
overgrainer with one width of lines. The piped over- 
grainer may occasionally be used in connection with the 
other overgrainer, but care must be taken to have the color 
in each brush of precisely the same shade on the same 
panel, otherwise the work will look patchy. The color 
must be quickly applied with the overgrainer, following 
the general direction of the grains previously done, and the 
badger blender must be used at once to draw the over- 
grained work to dark edges similar to the figure seen in 
the natural wood. Have the light and dark veins well 
laid out in the primary stages of the work and take pains 
not to get the work too dark, as it can easily be brought 
to any depth of color by overgraining, or shading ; but if 
too dark at the beginning, it cannot well be lightened with- 
out repainting. 

In doing fine work it is best to apply a thin coat of 



PLATE 46 




MAHOGANY— FEATHER PANEL 




MAHOGANY -FEATHERED PANEL 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 97 

varnish to the work after the first graining, and when dry, 
apply the overgraining color, or, if necessary, first go over 
the graining again and accent any of the primary work. 
When the water-color work is dry, it may be lightly glazed 
over in oil color, using a little crimson lake in the color. 
This will give both depth and brightness to the work. Use 
but little oil in the color, mostly turpentine and a little 
liquid dryer if necessary. The darker shades can be again 
worked over and details of figure added. It will take many 
attempts and an abundance of patient work before even a 
tolerable success can be gained in the imitation of feather- 
grained mahogany. Secure, if possible, a good specimen 
of the real wood and have several panels grounded in color 
similar to the lightest shade in the real wood, then prac- 
tise to obtain the effect of the light and shade of the wood. 
Try some panels with a light stippled background done with 
thin Vandyke brown in water color. When dry, give them a 
thin coat of varnish, and when that is thoroughly dry and 
hard, grain in water color as previously directed. Notice 
whether the effect of the stippling is too pronounced by 
comparison with the work done on the panels without stip- 
pling, and compare both panels with the wood. You will 
then be able to determine whether your stippling on the 
groundwork is an improvement over that done without 
stippling. The stippling can be added to such portions of 
the work as appear to need it by applying the stippling 
color with a round blender or with a round or oval sash 
tool, not first rubbing in the work, but having some color 
in the brush and lightly touching the sides of the brush 
against the places to be stippled. 



98 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

CHAPTER XXXII 

TEAK 

Gronnd-color. — Yellow ochre, Venetian red, chrome 
yellow, and a little white lead. 

Graining Color. — Burnt sienna, Vandyke brown, and a 
little rose pink. 

Tools for Oil Color. — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, bristle liner, piped and short-bristle overgrainers. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, 
stippler, sash tool, fitches, bristle Hner, blender, over- 
grainers. 

This wood is a native of India and has a grain somewhat 
similar to that of mahogany. It resembles the latter wood 
in many particulars. It is a very hard, dense wood, hold- 
ing its color well and taking a high polish. It is used 
principally on steamships for covering of sides or tops of 
deck-houses, cabin doors, etc. It stands exposure to the 
weather much better than mahogany. 

It may be represented wholly in water color by first 
stippling on the groundwork a thin wash of Vandyke 
brown ground in water and thinned with one-third stale 
beer to two-thirds water. The graining color is composed 
of Vandyke brown and burnt sienna in equal parts. The 
grains of the wood may be applied to this background with 
the fitch tool or bristle liner, and the lines on the sides of 
the heart grains may be carried out by using the over- 
grainer charged with the same color as the liner. 

The work must be blended at once, using the badger 
blender, taking care not to lift the color too much from 
the stippled background. When dry, it may be over- 
grained in oil color with a little of the rose pink added to 
the graining color and the whole thinned with turpentine. 

For oil color graining it is best to first stipple the work 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 99 

in water color to produce the porous effect, and when dry, 
rub in the graining color in oil. The color should be com- 
posed of about equal quantities of burnt sienna and Van- 
dyke brown, adding a little rose pink if necessary. 

When this has been properly applied, the heart grains 
may be put in, using the bristle liner for this purpose and 
blending the color with the rubbing-in brush. Many of 
the grains of the wood are extremely plain, showing no 
sign of any other grain than the strong stippled or porous 
effect. 

Teak is seldom imitated in Massachusetts, and when done, 
is generally on some transatlantic steamer. 

The work may be done wholly in oil colors, but the 
stippled effect is more successfully produced by using 
water color for the under coat. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

ROSEWOOD 

Ground-color. — Orange chrome, red lead, white lead. 

Graining Color. — Vandyke brown, rose pink, drop- 
black. 

Tools. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitches, 
mottler, overgrainers, camel's-hair pencil, black crayon. 

This wood grows in tropical climates. The best speci- 
mens come from Africa. It is a very dense and close- 
grained wood. Its color varies from a light orange to 
a jet black. There are probably more variations of color 
in this wood than in any other that is used for finish 
or furniture. It is very seldom used as a finish for rooms, 
and in thirty-three years' experience I have seen but one 
rosewood door and frame used on any building on which I 
have worked. . ^^ <> 



lOO GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

The grains of this wood when finished natural are very- 
beautiful. The figures run in streaks or veins and seem 
to interlock in most eccentric fashion. The outer edges 
of these veins are frequently black and stand out promi- 
nently on a lighter background. In some of the veins of 
figured work the background assumes a pinkish tinge 
which is well imitated by the use of rose pink. 

The color is first applied sparingly with the sponge or 
flat brush, using diluted Vandyke brown for the color. 
One-third stale beer or vinegar to two-thirds water will 
sufifice to bind the color to the painted surface. Remove 
portions of the color with the sponge and put in veins of 
drop-black with a fitch tool. The blender is then used to 
soften the outlines and it may be drawn through some of 
the veins inside the outer edges. If it is desired to have 
some of the veins of a pink shade, a sash tool charged 
with rose pink is used to apply the color. The background 
of some of the veins may be faintly stippled, or the stip- 
pling or checking may be done in the overgraining color. 
The black crayon pencil does excellent work for this 
purpose. 

When the outlined veins are dry, the overgrainer (either 
piped or short haired) is charged with diluted drop-black 
and the color is applied in the direction of the fine grains 
seen in the wood; the overgraining is immediately blended 
with the badger blender. If carefully done, this will draw 
the color to sharp edges and produce an effect very similar 
to the grain of the wood. Without a bright background, 
it is useless to attempt to grain rosewood, as the color effect 
depends so largely on the transparent brilliancy of the 
ground-color and on this brilliancy depends in no small 
degree the success of the work. 

The camel's-hair pencil is used to put in some of the 
border heart grains, also to sharpen the edges of the dark 
veins. The work must be immediately blended. 

I have read instructions for graining this wood in which 



PLATE 54 





ROSEWOOD — OVERGR/* 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN loi 

the ground-color is stated to be black, the graining color is 
also black, and it gives one a chance to wonder how black 
graining color would appear on a black ground. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

OVERGRAINING 

t 

IN these days of hurry and rush, opportunity is seldom 
given to finish the work, and even expert grainers get 
into the habit of considering their work finished without 
being overgrained ; yet it is a fact that scarcely any wood 
can be so well done at one treatment as not to be vastly 
improved by being overgrained. The light and shade, 
however effectively disposed at the first treatment, can be 
made much more effective by judiciously overgraining. A 
common fault, even among expert grainers, is that they try 
to do too much at once. 

It is not the intention of the writer to disparage in any 
way the work of skilled men nor the processes which, by 
careful experiment and years of practical application, they 
have evolved and adopted; but it is none the less true that 
their work would often look better if the effects striven 
for in oil color were applied in the overgraining rather than 
in the first treatment and the time consumed would only 
be slightly greater. 

Care should be taken in oil overgraining to have as little 
linseed oil as possible in the color, as an excess of oil often 
acts disastrously on the varnish, causing it to crack. All 
that can be done in oil overgraining can be done equally 
well in water color, but strong beer or vinegar should never 
be used for this purpose. It requires but very little bind- 
ing material to hold the water color to the oil graining. 
One part beer or vinegar to four parts water will make 



I02 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

the color adhere sufficiently to allow it to be varnished 
without rubbing up. If the work is done wholly in water 
color, one part beer or vinegar to two parts water will bind 
the color to the groundwork so that it can be varnished 
with safety. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

CEILINGS 

CEILINGS, whether of plaster, wood, or metal, may 
be grained to represent wood. When a cornice is 
at the top of the wall, it should be included with the 
ceiling, or, if treated alone, it can be made to correspond 
with the woodwork of the room. 

* No more effective method of decorative treatment can 
be suggested for the ceiling of a modern dining room. So 
much oak is now used for furniture, picture frames, mould- 
ings, etc., that a ceiUng harmonizing in color effect and 
general character with the furniture gives a reposeful and 
harmonious effect which is preferable to some of the costly 
but rather bizarre effects sometimes produced by alleged 
decorations. 

A ceiling properly grained will last for many years and 
can be easily cleaned and renovated at a slight expense. 

Simple effects are often best suited to a ceiling. If 
fiat, lay out the work in forms best suited to the surround- 
ings. A simple plan is to divide the ceiling into four parts 
from the centre and parallel to the walls, then represent 
boards running at angles diagonally across the four squares, 
the boards meeting on the centre lines. 

Panels may be laid out and mouldings and carved work 
represented in light and shade, but it is unwise to do this 
unless the room readily lends itself to such treatment. 
Much of the effectiveness of the finished work will depend 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 103 

on its quiet and modest appearance. Unless for special 
reasons it is unwise to represent a variety of woods on a 
ceiling; better err on the side of modesty and represent 
but one wood, or two at most, than to challenge attention 
and close inspection by imitating too many varieties of wood. 
When thoroughly dry, it should receive a thin coat of var- 
nish. Use good coach varnish and dilute it with turpen- 
tine, adding a little raw linseed oil. This will allow more 
freedom in spreading the varnish and the finished work 
will not be as lustrous as if the varnish were used clear. 
Another reason for the use of a small quantity of linseed 
oil is that the varnish is applied in a thinner film, and in 
process of time, should cracking ensue, the cracks will be 
less conspicuous and finer than if a thicker varnish were 
used. 

Dead or flat varnish is not recommended, for these 
reasons : it is exceedingly difficult to avoid laps in a large 
surface where flat varnish is used ; if they fail to appear 
immediately after the work is done, they are likely to 
appear in bold prominence perhaps a year afterward. 
The transparency of the work is often seriously im- 
paired by flat varnish, and if compounded on a wax basis, 
it is extremely difficult to clean the smoke and dust from 
the work without injury to the varnish, while work done 
with hard varnish can readily be cleaned with a diluted 
solution of washing soda without injury to the work. In 
case flat varnish is used, it is better to first apply a coat 
of bright varnish, and when thoroughly dry, apply the 
flat varnish. 



I04 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

FLOORS 

OF late years the advent of so many quartered oak 
floors has made quite a demand for grained floors, 
and more are being done each year. If the old 
floor is at all smooth, and the boards sound, a very fair 
job can be done ; but if the boards are rough, it is best 
to plane them before beginning to paint. If the cracks 
at joints are very pronounced, the floor ought to be relaid 
and the joints made tight. If this is impracticable, fill 
all cracks and openings with a mixture of rye meal and 
fine sawdust mixed to a paste with weak glue-size. There 
are several patented crack fillers for floors and they will 
do 'the work equally well. 

Oil putty is not the best thing in the world for wide- 
open joints in a floor, as the edges of the boards absorb 
the oil out of the putty and the dry putty is likely to get 
loose. 

Having properly prepared the wood for painting, the 
floor should receive a first coat of color with not more than 
one-half linseed oil and one-half turpentine with plenty of 
dryer. When this is thoroughly dry and hard, a second 
coat can be given thinned with not more than one-fourth 
Hnseed oil and three-fourths turpentine with sufficient 
dryer. For an ordinary floor one-half pound Htharge 
added to the color will harden it more than Hquid dryers 
and leave it less sticky. The floor will seldom require a 
third coat of ground-color ; but if it does, the color should 
be thin and laid on smoothly, A light rub of sandpaper 
between the coats is essential to a smooth finish. 

The floor may then be marked in narrow strips similar 
to the modern hard-wood floor, marking it off with a lead 
pencil and straight edge. Or it may be done by dividing 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 105 

the widest boards into two sections and leaving the narrow 
boards in whatever width they are laid. In the latter case 
mark the edges of all the boards with lead pencil. If the 
floor is well prepared and the joints close, it is undoubtedly 
better to mark it off in three or three and one-half inch 
strips and grain them independent of the old joints. 

In most cases it is unnecessary to grain the whole floor. 
A border of a yard wide all around the room is sufficient, 
as the centre of the floor is invariably covered with a rug 
or carpet. This part can be stained or painted plain. 
Always leave a margin of ample width, allowing the carpet 
or rug to overlap. 

On sanitary grounds alone it is worth while to paint the 
floors in the interior of old dwellings, and if the compari- 
son is made between any plain painted floor and one prop- 
erly prepared and grained, there can be no doubt as to the 
latter being by far the most beautiful, and its durability is 
equal to any other form of painted floor. Another thing 
in its favor is that when it begins to show signs of wear 
and tear, the worst places can be repaired and made to 
match the old work, a thing very difficult to do in plain 
paint. 

The first cost of a grained floor is undoubtedly greater, 
but it is the cheapest in the end. 

Having decided on the shade of the graining color, mix 
a quantity sufficient to do the job on hand, as directed else- 
where, and after the floor is all marked out begin by rub- 
bing in the color on a strip of four or five boards on one 
side of the room, choosing the side on which the boards 
run parallel to the baseboard. Be sure the brush is well 
worked into the color, and rub in the boards of the same 
shade of color from end to end. In graining them some dis- 
cretion must be used. Do not have them all of the same 
shade, yet make no violent contrasts. Use the combs to 
take off more color from some boards than from others, thus 
altering the depth of color. Treat the work as an intel- 



I06 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

ligent carpenter would lay the floor if he had plenty of 
material, keeping it of the same general color and making 
no sharp contrasts. 

In a room of ordinary size up to sixteen feet long it 
would be wise to make no end joints unless they appear 
very prominently in the old floor boards ; even then it would 
be better to ignore them if possible. Work two-thirds or 
more of the distance across the floor, and then begin on 
the side opposite to where you first started, finishing the 
floor about one-third its width from the wall, allowing your- 
self a chance to make your exit without stepping on any 
of the work previously done. 

Use various sizes of rubber combs and vary the combing 
for the background, being careful not to overlap the comb- 
ing and treating each board distinct and separate from its 
adjoining neighbors, as would be the case in a natural-wood 
floor. If time allows, and expense is no object, the boards 
might be grained alternately and allowed to dry ; then do 
the intervening boards, which will allow a greater opportu- 
nity for slightly altering the color and varying the style of 
the work without interfering with the edges of the boards 
already finished. 

MANILA PAPER FOR COVERING A POOR FLOOR 

If a floor is in rather bad condition, it may be covered 
with stout manila paper well pasted down after the cracks 
and joints of the floor have been thoroughly filled and 
have received one coat of flat paint. The work can then 
be painted as usual and laid out in three and one-half inch 
strips. Be sure that the paper is thoroughly pressed down 
on the floor so that it will adhere to every portion with 
which it comes in contact. Thin muslin cloth may be 
used for this purpose, but it is not so smooth. 

The object of priming the floor with flat color is to afford 
an even surface for the paper, and to prevent the too-rapid 
absorption of the paste where the suction would be great- 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 107 

est on the bare wood or on cracks that have been filled 
with a porous material. 

A fair imitation of marquetry may be made by marking 
out the pattern with a stencil, and filling in the pattern 
with the proper ground-colors ; or after marking out the 
pattern on a light ground-color proceed to grain all the 
light wood in water colors. Cover all the light graining 
with thin asphaltum varnish or thin Damar varnish. Then 
grain all the dark woods in water colors on the hght ground, 
and when dry, wipe over the work with a soft rag saturated 
with spirits of turpentine. This will cut off the asphaltum 
or Damar varnish as well as all water color over it, and if 
used carefully, will leave the water-color graining, both 
light and dark, comparatively uninjured. It is unneces- 
sary to first remove the dark water color from the portions 
grained light. It will all readily be removed with the 
varnish by the turpentine, leaving the water color under- 
neath clean and distinct. It is better not to allow too long 
an interval to elapse before taking off the stopping varnish, 
as it sometimes dries rather hard and requires considerable 
friction to remove it. 

The manila paper makes an effective border treatment 
for marquetry, and the pattern to be grained can be marked 
out before the paper is pasted to the floor. In this case 
the paper should first receive one coat of paint. If it is 
desired, after the ground-color is applied, some of the figure 
of the quartered oak may be pencilled on the groundwork, 
using a thin solution of weak glue-size and sugar colored 
with a little dry umber and sienna. When dry, grain over 
it in oil, and when the oil graining is dry, the dark figures 
may be turned to light ones by using a clean sponge 
dampened in warm water and rubbed over the work. 
The dark figures can also be allowed to remain on the 
work if desired. 

Another method is to pencil in the dark figures in asphal- 
tum or Damar varnish, and when dry, grain over them with 



I08 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

water color. When this is dry, use the rag wet with tur- 
pentine to remove the dark figures, leaving the markings 
light that were painted dark. 

VARNISHING A GRAINED FLOOR 

It is a matter of doubt what finish is best adapted to a 
grained floor. A coat of good floor varnish, applied several 
days after the oil graining is done, ought to wear and look 
well for a long time. If water-color graining, it may be var- 
nished at once. If the under coats are oily and elastic, it 
is impossible for the best varnish to harden properly, hence 
it is important to have the foundation coats properly mixed 
and applied. 

Thin shellac is sometimes used for a coating over the 
oil graining, and if properly applied, it makes a very effec- 
tive finish. Care should be taken to have no wood alcohol 
in the shellac, as it is likely to cut off the graining color 
and soften up the paint. Even grain alcohol shellac must 
be used very expeditiously, and with no small degree of 
dexterity, or it will cause trouble on the grained surface of 
the floor. Then again, the graining itself should have 
been done with special reference to being shellacked 
instead of varnished. More dryer will be required in the 
graining color and less oil than on ordinary work. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

PATENT GRAINING DEVICES 

MACHINES and other devices have been invented 
for imitating the grains of wood. Many of them 
are impracticable for ordinary work, and others are 
effective only when the work can be done on the boards 
before they are cut up to be made into interior finish. 



I 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 109 

About 1855 a grainer in London, England, conceived 
the idea of having the figure of quartered oak engraved on 
the soft side of sole leather and attaching the leather to a 
cylinder about ten inches in diameter. The graining color 
was applied to the work, and the cylinder, made of wood 
with a metal handle, was pushed over the work, and wher- 
ever the leather came in contact with the wet surface, it 
absorbed the color and left the pattern on the work. 

The chief difficulty with this, as with all roller processes, 
is that the cylinder cannot be gotten into the ends of panels, 
nor can it be successfully used unless the cylinder is just 
the size or slightly smaller than the width of the panels. 

The principal objection to all mechanical graining is its 
repetition of pattern, for while the individual piece of work 
may be excellent, it becomes monotonous when repeated 
over and over again. 

The Mason pad graining machine was in use in 1864, 
and was made of convex shape similar to an oscillating 
blotting pad. It was composed of a framework of wood, 
covered on the convex side with a sheet of plastic com- 
pound similar to the material used in a printer's roller. On 
this surface was engraved the pattern, and it was impressed 
on the wet graining color by placing one end of the convex 
pattern at the bottom of a panel, and by rocking the frame, 
which had handles at either end, the pattern was made in 
the graining color. 

In cold weather the composition on the face of the pad 
would freeze so hard that it would make no impression on 
the wet graining color, while in hot weather it would almost 
melt and run together. 

Callow's stencil plates have been in use thirty years or 
more, and if properly handled, will produce fair to good 
work. They can be used with greater success by a grainer 
than by any amateur. The objectionable repetition is their 
chief fault. 

The smooth-faced, large, cvlindrical roller, which is 



no GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

covered with a composition similar to that used on printers' 
rollers, is one of the best methods of imitating porous 
woods. The wood to be imitated must be quite porous, 
and if the pores are not sufficiently deep, they must be 
eaten deeper into the wood with a strong solution of potash. 
The board used for the pattern must be perfectly smooth, 
clean, and dry. Spread the graining color evenly over the 
board to be imitated, carefully filhng all the pores of the 
wood. Then use a thin piece of wood to scrape off the sur- 
plus color, leaving the pores filled. The roller is then 
passed over the board and picks out sufficient color from 
the pores to make a well-defined pattern on the roller. 
This pattern is in turn transferred to the door or other 
place prepared to receive it by simply rolling the cylinder 
over it. 

Transfer paper of various kinds has been invented for 
imitating the grains of wood. Some of it is undoubtedly 
copied from wood, but more of it is imaginary. 

The most successful mechanical graining I have ever 
seen, other than the transfer roller, was the invention of a 
grainer, William Shannon of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who 
invented a machine for representing the grains of oak, in 
both heart and quartered grains. His machine chopped 
the pores into soft wood, having first compressed the grain 
of the wood on the surface, reducing an inch board to 
seven-eighths of an inch, then chopping in the pattern 
with a set of knives, the pores being sunk into the wood 
one-sixteenth of an inch deep. The machine was made 
from a second-hand planing machine, and the pores 
were filled by the same machine while the board was 
travelling through. The board entered the machine white 
pine and came through on the other end apparently quar- 
tered oak, filled, and ready to be nailed up and shellacked 
or varnished. 

A patent had been granted to W. W. Greer of Hulton, 
Pennsylvania, for an ingraining machine, which was a 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 



III 



cylinder covered with fine teeth which, when rolled over a 
board, produced imitations of pores in the wood. It was 
claimed that Mr. Shannon's machine infringed on Mr. 
Greer's patent, and I believe Mr. Shannon was prevented* 
from doing business with the machine. 

Some of the piano manufacturers now have a process of 
stamping the figure of quartered oak into the grain of rock 
maple. The figure is made by steel plates with project- 
ing teeth and is sunk deeply into the wood by the use of 
jack-screws ; when these artificial pores are filled and the 
color of the wood made similar to that of dark oak, it is not 
easy to detect the deception. 

A patent was issued for a belt roller machine which 
took up the pattern from an etched sheet of plate glass and 
transferred it to the work by a process similar to that 
describing the large, smooth-faced roller. 

When original pictures are painted entirely by machin- 
ery, then and not till then will good hand graining cease to 
be in demand. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 



SHOW PANELS 

NO grainer worthy of the name and no young man who 
aspires to be a grainer should neglect to procure 
some panels of wood or cardboard and endeavor to 
faithfully represent both the color and the grain of natural 
woods, taking for his copy as good examples of the natural 
woods as he is able to secure. 

Much of the idle time of young men in the dull seasons 
or in the long winter evenings could be put to an excellent 
use if they would try to improve their work. Sometimes 
two young men working together will help each other, but 



112 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

individual, patient, painstaking effort is the surest road to 
success. 

If the young grainer is really in love with his business, 
he will probably have panels done when he first began to 
work, and they are worth saving ; for they will show 
whether he has corrected his early faults, also the progress 
he has made, which can be seen by comparison with his 
panels of later years. 

Always have a few panels on hand grounded ready to 
grain, and then some day when you feel like doing some- 
thing of a high order or making a copy of some nice 
piece of wood, you can bring out your panels and begin 
to work. If you have to first ground the panels, the 
chances are that something will intervene to prevent you 
from doing them at once. In these days we can pur- 
chase heavily calendered pasteboard with a coated face 
that readily takes paint and which in some respects is 
superior to wooden panels, as it will not warp or split 
and is beautifully smooth. Coat such panels with a 
rather oily first coat with plenty of dryer or soak them 
in linseed oil; don't use shellac for a first ^oat, it makes 
the cardboard brittle. One more coat of color mixed one- 
third oil and two-thirds turpentine will cover the panel 
and prepare it for graining. 

It is a good plan to look at your work in a mirror. 
You can then see how it looks reversed and it may show 
you chances to improve. 

The size of the panels should be about lo in. x 30 
in., or larger if you choose. If made of wood, put a 
screw eye in the end or make a hole in top of centre 
of panels so they can be hung up on a nail. 

It is a good plan to exchange panels with men in the 
same line of business in your own or other cities. 

A friend of mine, an excellent grainer now deceased, 
told me about a Grainers' Association of which he was a 
member many years ago, on the other side of the Atlan- 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 113 

tic. They held monthly meetings, and at every meeting 
each man brought a panel grained to represent whatever 
wood was designated for that meeting. The panels were 
all the same size and were brought tied in paper, and 
none but the man who received them knew from whom 
they came. At the proper time the paper was removed, 
and each member passed his criticism on the panels, not 
knowing (unless he was very keen) whose work he was 
criticising, except his own. 

This is an excellent plan and one that might be fol- 
lowed with profit by grainers on this side of the ocean. 
We are all very Hkely to adopt certain mannerisms or 
eccentricities in our work, and intelligent criticism is a 
healthy thing for us to undergo. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

GRAINING ON GLASS 

AVERY effective imitation of wood or marble may 
be done on a smooth piece of glass. Plate glass is 
the best for this purpose. The work is done on the 
back of the glass and in just the reverse order from the 
ordinary way. 

The overgraining is first applied, then the graining 
color, and last of all the ground-color, which backs up the 
work and brings into view the transparent color already 
applied to the glass. 

A piece of paper or cardboard the size of the panel to 
be grained should first be prepared with the ground-color. 
This is placed beneath the glass while the overgraining 
is being done, and allows the progress of the work to be 
clearlv seen. 



114 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

It is wise to sponge the glass over with a wash of vine- 
gar before any color is applied. The overgraining may 
then be done in water color. If the graining is done in 
oil color, it may, when dry, again be overgrained or shaded 
in oil color; when the graining color is dry, apply the 
ground-color. 

Excellent imitations of inlaid work may be done by 
this method, and it is an interesting study when time will 
permit. 



CHAPTER XL 

IMITATIONS OF CARVING 

THE illustration on the opposite page is a fairly accu- 
rate drawing of a ruffed grouse shot by the writer 
and placed in the position shown by the engraving. 
In rooms or halls where the light is rather subdued such 
work can be successfully done, and it requires considerable 
skill to produce the proper effect. 

There are often places on walls or ceilings where the 
skill of the grainer can be shown in imitating carved work 
and mouldings, but it should be carefully done, having due 
regard for the surroundings, or the effect is disappointing. 

IMITATIONS OF MOULDINGS 

The grainer is seldom called upon to imitate mouldings, 
but should he be requested to do so, he should not be 
found lacking in ability. Considerable technical skill is 
required to successfully imitate mouldings. A steady 
hand and a correct eye are very essential. 

The beginner should carefully study the light and shade 
of mouldings whenever he sees them and endeavor to fix 
in his mind the principles which govern this special line 
of work. It is well to study the work of some skilful 



PLATE 56 





IMITATION OF CARVING 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 115 

fresco painter and see how he produces the effect of 
mouldings in Hght and shade. As a rule the mouldings 
imitated by the grainer are not as elaborate as those done 
by the fresco painter. 

Mouldings on a grained surface can be laid out by a 
chalk line or by a lead pencil, and the lines painted with 
the bristle liner, using a straight edge. It is a good plan 
in laying out the mouldings to remove nearly all the grain- 
ing color from two sides of the moulding, leaving the other 
two sides in the shade. A careful consideration of the 
situation of the work will determine the proper manner 
to dispose the light and shade. If the work is seen mostly 
at night, the source of artificial light cannot well be ignored, 
but the disposal of the light and shade should be governed 
by the direction from which the light comes. 

Do not paint the colors too strong. Make them har- 
monize as far as possible with the Hght and shade on the 
real mouldings of the adjacent work. After having laid 
out the mouldings, the lines may be painted in either oil 
or water colors. The latter method is a good plan if the 
time is hmited, as the work can be at once overgrained in 
oil and finished. The ground-color with which the work 
has been prepared will sufifice for all high lights on the 
mouldings, as nothing lighter than the ground-color can 
possibly be seen on the real mouldings which are grained 
in the same color. 

A short-haired, flat, fresco bristle liner is the best tool 
for painting the lines of imitation mouldings. The straight 
edge should not be more than thirty inches in length, and 
should be bevelled on the back edge so that the color from 
the brush cannot gather and touch the work. It should 
be wiped with a rag after every line is drawn to remove 
any graining color that may have adhered to it. 

The grainer who really has at heart the desire to excel 
in his work must acquaint himself with all the possibiHties 
of his calling, and in his leisure time, when business is dull 



Il6 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

or in the long winter evenings, he can study the painting 
of mouldings, using the real articles for his guide, so that 
when the time comes for him to display his abihty on 
some job, he may be able to attempt it without embarrass- 
ment. 

Imitations of carving can also be grained in light and 
shade, and often the effect is as pleasing as though the 
work were done in color. Care should be taken not to 
imitate such work where the light is too strong. It is most 
effective when executed in places where the light is sub- 
dued, as it is exceedingly difficult to suggest rotundity on 
a flat surface in a very strong light. 



CHAPTER XLI 

CAUSES OF CRACKING IN GRAINED WORK 

THE causes of cracking in grained work are a most 
interesting study. Oftentimes we can only conjec- 
ture what has caused the eccentricities displayed by 
the same varnish in different portions of the same room. 
Sometimes one panel or stile of a door will crack very 
badly, while the rest of the door will remain comparatively 
free from cracks. There is a wide field for investigation, 
by the student with time at his disposal, to try and dis- 
cover the causes of these cracks. Many times the causes 
are quite evident to the skilful workman, while at other 
times he is absolutely at a loss to even guess these causes. 
The excess of liquid dryer in oil graining color is a pro- 
lific cause of cracking in the varnish. The dryer, being 
spread over a non-absorbent groundwork, is left on the 
surface, and is thus in a position to attack the subsequent 
coat of varnish. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 117 

I have made some experiments to show the result of 
variously prepared groundworks on the varnish and found 
that there was little or no difference in the cracks that 
appear in ordinary varnish over a groundwork prepared of 
a dead flat color, or one-third oil to two-thirds turpentine, 
or old fatty color thinned with clear oil. The ground-color 
was for oak and the graining was done in oil color. All 
these tests were on the same wide board longitudinally and 
varnished at the same time. One middle cross-section of 
the board was left without varnish ; the board was exposed 
to the weather in an easterly direction for six months. At 
the end of that time fine cracks appeared all over the 
varnished surface, but, strange to say, the old fatty color 
groundwork showed cracks no worse than those on the 
flat groundwork. It is now seven years since this test 
was made. Since that time the board has been hung 
indoors, and the cracks appear to have grown no wider or 
deeper. It would not be well to infer from this test that 
it makes no difference whether the ground-color is com- 
posed of old fatty paint or otherwise. I believe it makes 
a great difference, notwithstanding the results. 

On general principles the groundwork should be hard 
and non-elastic, or nearly so, if durable work is expected. 

After many years of careful observation, in a New Eng- 
land climate, of the effect of the weather on varnish which 
has been applied to exterior surfaces, I am fully convinced 
that in a majority of cases such grained work would be 
more durable without varnish than with it. The reason 
for this belief can be readily understood when we consider 
the extremes of temperature to which such work is exposed 
every year, 100 to 120 degrees, to say nothing of the 
violent changes of temperature (often 30 to 40 degrees) 
which take place in twenty-four hours. 

The material to which the varnish is attached cannot 
resist such changes without expanding or contracting, so 
that if the varnish is of the best quality, it must in time 



Il8 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

crack, when its elasticity has departed. Therefore, for the 
past twenty years I have advocated that an outside door 
grained in oil should be let severely alone for thirty days 
or more, and then a thin coat of linseed oil, with a few 
drops of liquid dryer added, will prove a more durable 
coating than any varnish, because cracks will not appear to 
destroy the graining and the work can be revived by a coat 
of linseed oil once a year if necessary. 



CHAPTER XLII 

THE GRAINER IN FICTION 

MANY persons of intelligence have peculiar ideas 
about graining and the methods by which it is 
done. But two cases have come to my notice in 
which reference to grainers is made in the works of writers 
of fiction. Both are in the writings of the novelist, Charles 
Reade. In his story, " It's Never Too Late to Mend," he 
tells us how one Tom Robinson, a character who had been 
put in jail for stealing, was able by diligent study of the 
grains of pieces of natural wood (which were supplied him 
by the kind-hearted chaplain), and being furnished with 
the proper tools, etc., to become an expert grainer, or 
" ingrainer," as he calls him. After being sent as a con- 
vict to Australia he obtained a ticket of leave and went 
about graining front doors walnut, oak, mahogany, or satin- 
wood, to the admiration of all beholders. He prepared the 
ground-color, grained and varnished the door, and got his 
money all in one day. 

Such a rapid execution of the work, while not impossible, 
would be plainly so if he used oil paints, and the inference 
is given that such paints were used. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 119 

A wager was made by a friend of mine that he could 
apply two coats of paint to a door, grain, and varnish it in 
five hours, and he won the wager with hours to spare, doing 
it in less than three hours. He grained the door mahog- 
any, preparing the groundwork with dry white lead and 
dry colors thinned with diluted shellac, following one coat 
of ground-color as soon as the first coat was dry, graining 
the wood in water colors, and varnishing immediately. 

Some of the water-color washable paints are said to make 
good groundworks for work that is to be rapidly prepared, 
but as a rule they are not recommended, for reasons given 
elsewhere. 

In a* volume by Charles Reade, entitled "Good Stories," 
one short story is called " Singleheart .and Doubleface " 
and among other characters is one James Mansell, a painter 
and grainer, who was the successful suitor for the heroine 
of the story. Mr. Reade writes " Mansell had three trades. 
In one of them (graining) he might be called an artist. 
He could imitate the common woods better than almost 
anybody, but at satinwood, mahogany, and American 
birch, he was really wonderful." 

After marrying the heroine and settling down he ac- 
quired the habit of indulgence in intoxicating liquors to 
such an extent that he lost both his self-respect and his 
customers. Mr. Reade writes, " Mansell was styled the 
first grainer in the place and the tradesmen would have 
employed him by preference if he could have been relied 
on to finish his jobs, but he was so uncertain ; he would go 
to dinner and stop at a public-house, would appoint an 
hour to commence, and be at a public-house." " He tired 
out one good customer after another, the joint income 
declined in consequence, and, as generally happens, their 
expenses increased, for Mrs. Mansell getting no help from 
her husband was obliged to take a servant." 

" Often in the evening she would close her shop early, 
leave her child under strict charge of the girl, and go to 



I20 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

some public-house and there coax and remonstrate, and 
get him away at last." 

********* 

** At last it came to this, that nobody in the town who 
knew James Mansell would employ him." 

********* 

"This man's vanity was prodigious; it equalled his 
demerit." 

Mansell finally died a drunkard in America. 

Here is faithfully portrayed for us, by a master hand 
in fiction, the end that often follows the course of the 
grainer who allows himself to be led away by his appe- 
tite for strong drink. 

It is the curse of many a skilful workman and particu- 
larly in the graining trade. Many such I have known, 
arid their work I have admired, but in no case was strong 
drink any help to such men. On the contrary, it was 
their ruin. No man ever did, or in my opinion ever will, 
excel in whatever sphere of usefulness his work lies while 
he is in an artificial condition. The man who totally 
abstains from intoxicating drinks, while he may not have 
the natural talent that is the gift of many, yet his work, 
if conscientiously and faithfully done, will often surpass 
the work of the man who is brilliant and mediocre by 
fits and starts, according to the condition of his mind 
when doing his work. It is often possible, by careful 
examination, for an expert grainer to tell with tolerable 
accuracy the physical and mental condition of the man 
who did a piece of work. 

A word of advice to all young men who aspire to be 
grainers : abstain from intoxicating drinks and I warrant 
your work will be improved thereby. Nor is the use of 
tobacco in any way essential to your success. A man's 
mind ought to be entirely free to allow him to concen- 
trate all his efforts to the successful accomplishment of 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 



121 



the work in hand, and making a chimney of the mouth 
is in my opinion "a wasteful and ridiculous excess." It 
is neither eating nor drinking. It takes time and money 
from the workingman, and unless prescribed by a physi- 
cian, for some special reason, I can see no use for it.' I 
have heard an intelligent master painter, himself an in- 
veterate smoker, say that the man who did not use 
tobacco was worth ten cents a day more than the one who 
used it, for he could devote all his time to the work and 
was not disturbed by seeing others smoking or chewing 
tobacco. 



CHAPTER XLIII 

GRAINING A DOOR QUARTERED OAK 

An Illustrated Talk given at the Second Annual Convention of the Master 
House Painters and Decorators Association of Canada held at Ham- 
ilton, Ontario, July 25, 26, 27, 1905. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen : — 

I don't wish to present myself to you to-day as anything 
else than an humble imitator of nature ; but if any of the 
little things shown are new to you, it may be of some help 
in getting closer to nature in your work. 

First, we should have a proper foundation of ground-color, 
which should be strained through fine cloth before being 
apphed and thinned with about one-fourth raw linseed oil 
to three-fourths spirits of turpentine for old work, adding a 
larger proportion of linseed oil for new work. A little 
varnish may be added to the last coat, as it tends to hold 
the color and gives a better surface to work on. A sufifi- 
cient quantity of dryer is also added. When the last coat 
is dry, it should be lightly sandpapered, and then we are 
ready to apply the graining color. For representing 



122 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

quartered oak this color is generally mixed in oil, although 
good work can be done in water colors, but by a different 
process. In case a fair to good job is wanted, and we can- 
not spare time to come back and overgrain the work, 
we may first apply a thin glaze of water color directly to 
the groundwork. I will treat this panel in this way, 
leaving the others plain. 

For the glazing color we use a Httle diluted drop-black, 
ground in water and thinned with one part stale beer and one 
part water. If the color creeps or crawls or will not readily 
attach itself to the ground-color, we will use some bolted 
whiting, which, on being rubbed over the panel, will effectu- 
ally stop the cissing or crawling. If the oil color crawls, 
the same treatment may be given, or a better plan is to 
first dampen the work with benzine. This is the most 
effective process to prevent the crawling of any kind of 
paint or varnish and it in no way effects the durability of 
the work. 

We now take a short-haired overgrainer, and after wet- 
ting it and charging it with the thin color we separate the 
hair with an ordinary bone comb and apply the color to the 
panel. Before the color has time to dry use a steel comb 
to serrate the regularity of the lines. 

We will now mix our oil graining color. Supposing we 
want to have the work of a medium shade, the color can be 
mixed about one-third burnt umber to two-thirds raw sieiina, 
adding a little drop-black to subdue the brightness of the 
other colors. This color we will thin with a mixture of two- 
fifths raw oil to three-fifths turpentine, using about one-half 
pint of good liquid dryer to the gallon of mixture. In this 
mixture we dissolve about two-thirds of an ounce of yellow 
beeswax, which we first cut in shavings and melt in an iron 
vessel, adding turpentine slowly after taking it from the 
fire, or the wax may be cut in shavings placed in a wide- 
mouthed glass bottle, and the bottle filled two-thirds of its 
height with turpentine. If this be done overnight and kept 




WM. E. WALL GRAINING DOOR 

2d Annual Convention Canadian Association Master House Painters and Decorators. 
Hamilton, Ont., July 27, 1905. 

James J. O'Hearn, rubber-in. Stewart N. Hughes, boss. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 123 

in a warm room, the turpentine will have so softened the 
wax by morning, that a few violent shakings of the bottle 
will finish its dissolution. It can then be added to the 
gallon of thinners. For many reasons I prefer the finest 
grade of dry colors, except black and burnt sienna, in 
preparing graining color. 

We now work in our flat rubbing-in brush, and apply the 
color in the usual way. When it has slightly set, we comb 
it with a rubber comb and intersect the tracts of the rub- 
ber comb with the steel comb. This gives the porous 
appearance of the wood, and we imitate the quartered veins 
by wiping off the color with the rag drawn over the end of 
the thumb nail. We can blend the edges of the work by 
using the second joint of the forefinger, or we can use a short- 
haired fitch for this purpose. We can blend the work 
lightly with a rubbing-in brush, always in one direction. 

A piece of straw matting makes an excellent fine comb 
for quartered oak. To get a darker effect for some of the 
veins we take some of the rubbing-in color, and with a flat 
fresco lining fitch apply the color directly to the combed 
work and blend it quickly with the rubbing-in brush. The 
effect produced is not as good an imitation of wood as if 
the work is done on dry color, but it gives variety to the 
work, and if carefully done, is a fair representation of the 
darker veins of quartered oak. 

In graining the cross stiles of the door we must take 
pains to go well beyond the joints, and if the long stiles 
are to be done light, we cover the coarse or medium-toothed 
steel comb with one thickness of the rag and draw the 
mitre lines cleanly, combing the rest of the stiles with the 
same comb, or if necessary using the rubber comb outside 
the mitre joints. We then overcomb the tracks of the 
rubber comb with a finer steel comb. The work of wiping 
out the veins or putting them in with a fitch can then be 
done. 

If the long stiles are to appear as slightly darker than the 



124 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

cross stiles, use a sash tool to cut the mitres, having a dip 
of color from the bottom of the pot. The most effective 
process is to do the long stiles of the same color as the rest 
of the work, and when dry, overgrain them to the depth of 
color desired, or they can first be glazed with a thin wash 
of water color as previously described. 

If the doors in a room are nearly or quite dry before we 
leave the job, we can overgrain the more prominent por- 
tions of the figured work by using the short-haired over- 
grainer in the oil color, separating the bristles with a comb. 
Take care to have the color quite thin, and the steel comb 
can be used as directed in the use of the overgrainer in 
water color. A good imitation of any kind of wood is 
rarely done without being overgrained. Some kinds of 
woods require more attention in this respect than others, 
but all can be helped by overgraining. Two or three days 
should elapse before the work should be varnished. 

Gentlemen, I have briefly tried to show you how a fair 
imitation of quartered oak may be done, and I trust you 
may have gained something in the way of information from 
what you have seen and heard. 



CHAPTER XLIV 

NEW METHODS 

IN the development of new methods a fertile field is 
available for study to those who care to depart from 
conventional lines of working. The patient investigator 
will find that the field has been well worked over by his 
predecessors. Still, he will find ample opportunity to 
improve his work, and possibly his method of working, by 
a diligent study of the wood as he finds it in his particular 
locality. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 125 

The grain of many woods is naturally affected by the 
soil in which it grows, or by its geographical location. An 
oak tree grown in Canada may have very different mark- 
ings in its grain from that of a similar species of tree 
grown in a southern clime and on a different soil. The 
layers of wood in trees grown in temperate climes are, as 
a rule, produced in annular rings ; yet a friend of mine, a 
botanist, and one not Hkely to be mistaken, informed me 
that he had seen pine trees growing in the rich alluvial 
bottom lands of Arkansas that added three tops to their 
growth annually. This meant three rings to the growth 
of the tree, so that a grove of trees whose age he estimated 
to be thirty years were in reality planted but ten years. 
They had been set out by the man in charge of the estate, 
and my friend told me that he would not have believed 
that the trees were so young had he not seen the marvel- 
lous rapidity with which they grew. 

Some varieties of quartered oak may require an entirely 
different method of treatment from that ordinarily used in 
order to make a successful imitation. It is a wise plan to 
endeavor to be versatile and not accustom one's self 
to a particular method of working. Be governed by cer- 
tain principles rather than by rules. One man may fail to 
achieve success by the process which he is taught, and yet 
he may accomplish excellent results by another process, 
possibly by one he may himself have developed. In any 
case the persistent study of the grains of wood is essential 
to any person who desires to become an expert imitator. 
Examine the same piece of wood in a strong sunlight, also 
by artificial light. Notice the play of light and shade that 
often travels across it as you move the board or change 
your point of view. 

The grainer cannot produce (except to a very limited 
extent) this iridescence, but he should know as much as 
possible about it and endeavor to adjust his work in con- 
formity to the markings he observes in the wood. These 



126 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

shadings are often represented much stronger and darker 
than they appear in the wood, but this is a great mistake. 

One of the oldest methods for producing an iridescent 
effect is to have a metallic leaf groundwork. Gold or 
silver leaf is usually employed. Aluminum leaf or bronze 
is more frequently used in these later days. It is better 
to leave the work as grained, or, if done in water color, to 
oil it over and wipe off any surplus oil with a soft cloth, as 
varnish largely destroys the effect. 

In imitating light to medium, or even dark, quartered 
oak, it is doubtful if a more effective process can be em- 
ployed to produce the iridescence than to use for a founda- 
tion for the work some light, clean-grained wood, such as 
clear pine, spruce, or whitewood. It may be prepared by 
a thin coating of white glue-size or, better, by two thin 
coats of white shellac. When dry, apply the graining color 
and grain in either water or oil color, varnishing as usual ; 
or it may be finished in white shellac, which is probably 
the better plan, as it avoids the possibility of the cracking 
of the varnish due to lack of affinity with the shellac under 
coats. Care must be taken to use as little linseed oil as 
possible in the graining color. 

The work may also be prepared by coatings of liquid 
filler or pale oil varnish. The former often contains ele- 
ments which utterly destroy not only the graining, but all 
subsequent coats of varnish, hence its use is not recom- 
mended. The oil in the varnish is apt to discolor the new 
wood more than white shellac. This is a factor not to be 
overlooked where it is desired to keep the work as light as 
possible. It is very seldom that this process can be suc- 
cessfully applied to an entire room, as the wood is rarely 
sufficiently free from imperfections to allow its use over 
large surfaces. It is better adapted to panels or compara- 
tively small surfaces, but when carefully done, it surpasses 
in woodiness and transparency work done on any solidly 
painted groundwork. 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 127 

In passing it may be worth while to notice that the 
mottled effect of nearly all woods, and the shadows that 
appear in connection with the heart grains of nearly all 
woods, are due to the angle at which the fibre of the grain 
approaches the surface of the wood. When the fibre runs 
parallel, the grain is apt to appear without mottled effect. 
The open ends of the fibre present a dark appearance, and 
when the undulations in the tree are intersected by the 
saw, an effect is produced more or less mottled, according 
to the character of the wood. 



CHAPTER XLV 

JOURNEYMEN 

IN the early days of the trade guilds, centuries ago, a 
workman was known and recognized by his ability 
rather than by the quantity of work he was able to 
accomplish in a given time. After faithfully serving his 
apprenticeship, generally for a term of seven years, he 
was still not recognized as a journeyman until he had, as 
the name implies, made a journey of many miles and 
worked at his trade in several cities. On his return 
home he was recognized as a full-fledged journeyman and 
considered competent to be admitted to fellowship with 
his fellow-workers. In his travels he was provided by the 
guild with credentials certifying that he had duly served 
his apprenticeship. Wherever a workman in his trade 
was needed, he was given employment, and the local guild 
looked after his welfare. This system broadened the 
ideas of the young craftsman and allowed opportunity for 
comparison to be made between the work and methods of 
his late master and those of skilful craftsmen of other 
"cities and towns. It also put him on his mettle and stimu- 



128 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

lated him to do the best and prove his claims to be an 
expert workman. 

These facts are cited to draw attention to the great 
benefit to be derived by the young grainer in studying 
work and methods of skilled grainers in cities or towns in 
their vicinity or in any city in which they may find them- 
selves ; the object being not to copy the work of any man, 
however excellent in itself, but to study the process by 
which results are attained, to avoid any fault observed, 
and, if possible, to improve on the work examined — always 
in the direction of a closer imitation of nature. 

To the expert workman, in his examination of a piece of 
finished work, it need not be necessary to explain the pro- 
cess by which it was done. Oftentimes he can determine 
with tolerable accuracy the methods employed and tools 
used, also the number of stages through which the work 
passed before it was completed. It is true that even the 
most expert grainer may be mistaken in his opinion of how 
the work was done, but this is seldom the case. Even the 
bank clerk is sometimes mistaken and allows a counterfeit 
bill to pass his scrutiny without detection. 

It is often a revelation to the aspiring young craftsman 
to observe the results obtained by a workman of another 
school from that in which he was taught. Tools and 
vehicles for applying the color may be radically different 
from those he may have considered as standards. It is a 
wise man who can profit by the mistakes of others or who 
will try and correct his own shortcomings. It is remark- 
able how a simple process may be used to produce effects 
which to the beginner seem marvellous. He should, as 
far as possible, acquaint himself with all known processes 
by which wood can be imitated and endeavor to master 
them so that his work shall not appear as a mere copy of 
the work of his master, but shall at least suggest the grains 
of the wood which he is trying to imitate. 



rp] 



GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 129 

CHAPTER XLVI 

BICYCLE FOR COUNTRY OR CITY WORK 

^HE grainer who works for the trade outside the very 
I larger cities is losing an opportunity to earn extra 
dollars if he fails to use a bicycle. There are many 
occasions when he can get home to dinner and save both 
time and money by using a bicycle. A grainer's kit is so 
small that it is not difficult to carry it on a wheel, and a 
little practice will soon give one confidence so that he can 
safely go from place to place and save hours of valuable 
time. 

Possibly the grainer of the future may ride to and from 
his work in an automobile, and his "rubber in" may act in 
the dual capacity of rubber in and chauffeur, but the prices 
now paid for work will have to be raised one hundred per 
cent before such things are likely to transpire. 



CHAPTER XLVn 



BUTTERNUT 



Ground-color. — White lead, raw sienna, raw umber. 

Graining Color. — Raw sienna, raw umber, burnt umber. 

Tools for Oil Color. ■ — Rubbing-in brush, sash tool, fitch 
tools, bristle liner, combs, rags, crayons. 

Tools for Water Color. — Sponge, rubbing-in brush, stip- 
pler, blender, sash tool, fitch tools, bristle liner, crayons, 
overgrainers. 

This wood is found in the middle western states and is 
sometimes called white walnut. Its grains are quite simi- 
lar to those of black walnut, but are as a rule more angular 



130 GRAINING, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

in the heart grains, and the outline of the grains is much 
less vigorous. There is but little mottle to its grain, and it 
has a quiet and subdued effect. 

Some of its grains are not unlike those of white mahog- 
any. It is seldom seen in the East nowadays. 

For oil color mix about one-third each of raw sienna, raw 
umber, and burnt umber. Thin with the regular thinners, 
making the color very thin. 

The work can then be rubbed in, and the faint stippled 
effect can be produced with the dry rubbing-in brush on 
the color which has been allowed to set slightly. 

The heart grains can then be put in with the flat fresco 
liner and the work blended with the rubbing-in brush, care 
being taken not to lift the color too much in blending. 

Combs can be used for the finer grains, and the sides of 
the rubbing-in brush can be used to remove portions of the 
color. The stippling with the dry brush can then be done 
over the combing. 

For water color graining the work is first sponged over, 
using one-third beer to two-thirds water and rubbed in with 
a mixture of raw sienna, raw and burnt umber, using the 
rubbing-in brush, and applying the color very sparingly. 
Stipple at once, and when dry, the heart grains may be put 
in with the bristle liner, and blended quickly, or the dry 
crayon may be used for this purpose. 

The plain grains can be represented by using the short- 
haired overgrainer. 

Remember that the outline of the heart grains should not 
be too pronounced. The crayon outline is often nearer to 
the natural grains than is the work done by the brush. 



PLATE 38 




BUTTERNUT 



NOTES 

1. Always bear in mind that the graining on no piece of wood on 
which you are at work should appear to begin or end. The tree from 
which the board is cut is encircled with rings of annual growth, and it is 
impossible to find the end of any grain except where a board is cut at 
some angle to the growth of the tree. Remember that although the 
board may be cut off, the grain is continued to the other piece. The 
work of many grainers suggests the thought that the wood begins to 
grow where they start to represent it and the growth stops where they 
leave oif. 

2. Never work on Sunday unless in a case of great necessity. Many 
people have a habit of getting mechanics to do work on Sunday simply 
as a matter of convenience for themselves ; do not encourage them ; re- 
member the commandment " Thou shalt do no manner of work in it.'" 
Also remember that you are not keeping the Commandment if you leave 
your books and accounts to be written up on Sunday ; that should be 
the day to worship God and to rest from labor, " for what shall it 
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." 

3. In graining the panels of doors, where both sides are grained to rep- 
resent the same wood, attention should be given to the fact that a thin 
panel if made of solid wood would present somewhat similar markings 
on both sides. In the case of ash, yellow pine, or walnut the figure 
would be almost identical. It is well to consider this in attempting to 
imitate the wood, for a good grainer should be consistent, and not vio- 
late mechanical laws, but make his work conform as nearly as possible 
to what he sees in the natural wood. 

4. An excellent way to carry the kit, without causing objection when 
travelling in trains or on the electric cars, is to have a round sole- 
leather case made slightly over twice the height of the pot used in mix- 
ing the color, thus giving room for two pots. That containing the 
mixed color can be placed in the bottom of the case, the dry pot with 
colors and brushes on top. This will leave room for rags, combs, etc., 
and when the cover is strapped down, the kit can easily be carried and 
the leather case is good for years of service. 

131 



132 NOTES 

5. In using oil graining color in warm weather the surplus color on 
combs, rags, etc., is often transferred to the hands, and if allowed to re- 
main for more than three or four hours, it is difficult to remove. It is 
wise to wash the hands thoroughly both at noon and at night after using 
oil colors. To remove the graining color from between the fingers noth- 
ing is better than a pad of curled horsehair, such as is used by uphol- 
sterers. This can be rubbed against the hand at any point where the 
graining color has adhered, and by the use of a good lather of soap and 
some hot water the hands can be effectually cleaned. 

If no curled horsehair is available, place a saucer full of granulated 
Indian meal in the sink, and after having made a good lather of soap and 
hot water on the hands, dip them in the dry meal and rub thoroughly. 
This will be found an excellent process to remove all sorts of dirt from 
the hands. If varnish or pitch gets on the hands, first use a little lard 
or grease to soften it and then try the curled hair or meal. 

6. A wooden wedge, about six inches long and one-half inch thick, 
tapering from the point to about three inches in width, will be found very 
useful to hold a door open at any position desired. It is most effective 
whe'n pushed against the edge of the door. A few thin pieces of wood 
are also useful to lay on the threshold of doors to prevent the door from 
shutting, especially if there are no handles on the doors, as is often the 
case in a new house. On new work it is wise to carry, in the jacket 
pocket, a short piece of hard wood cut so that it will fit the knob sockets 
of doors, so that in case the knobs are not fitted the latch may be turned 
and the door opened without waste of time. 



Original Poem 

Read by Francis A. Hartford at the quarterly meeting of Grainers' 
Association of Boston and vicinity, April 19, 1904. 



The grainer, a merry man is he, 

And his life is a round of joy, 
He hustleth like a honey-bee, 

And the quarter grain of the wormwood tree, 
He graineth as close as close can be, 

On a surface of corduroy. 

To work for a country shop, tra la, 

He riseth at break of day ; 
He rideth the costly railway car 

And goeth a distance, — very far. 
And often he getteth the merry '' ha ! ha !" 

When he asketh for his pay. 

How often he bolteth his breakfast-food 

And firmly he maketh his mind 
To match up his work to the '• real wood," 

For the painter insisteth '' it must be good," 
But he longeth to spill that painter's blood — 

For the painter is color blind. 

Now the painter he taketh the grainer, and lo ! 

He posteth him on his job : 
" You should carry your color so and so, 

And this is the way wood ought to grow, 
ril have to tell you, for you don't know," 

But that painter is a slob. 

At night the grainer he lieth down. 

And dreameth a great big dream, 
That the great, round earth is a graining ground, 

And a million grainers gathered around. 
With color and brushes and cloths all found, 

Bread, beer, and cheese, and a pipe to smoke. 
And all of the work is quartered oak — 

And then he awoke ! 'twas his wife who spoke ; 

" William, get right up ; Mr. Smith is downstairs 
and wants you to do a job for him this morn- 
ing, so he can varnish it this afternoon." 



GRAINERS' ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 
AND VICINITY 

The Grainers' Association of Boston, Massachusetts, and vicinity 
was organized in Somerville, Massachusetts, May 27, 1903, with the 
following charter members : — 

2. William Hopson, President Everett. 

5. Francis Vincent Maiden. 

6. John E. Patten Boston. 

I . *F. A. Hartford South Boston. 

4. William M. Ross (died March 2, 1905) . Somerville. 

3. William E. Wall, Secy-Treas. . . . Somerville. 

Since that time the following grainers have been admitted to mem- 
bership : — 

Charles A. Morgan Lawrence. 

Richard Holland Brockton. 



INDEX 



[Roman figures pages, black figures plates.] 



Antiquity of graining, i. 

Ash, 46; burl, 53; ground-colors for, 

46 ; Hungarian, 51 ; wiped out and 

pencilled, 48. 

B 

Badger blender, 1, 

Bicycle, for city or country work, 129. 

Bird's-eye maple, 35 ; maple in water 

color, 36. 
Black walnut, 87. 
Blending groundwork, 12. 
Bristle rubbing-in brushes, 2 ; liners, 

fitches, 2 ; mottlers, overgrainers, 1 ; 

stippler, 1 ; piped overgrainer, 1. 
Burl ash, 53 ; ash, ground-colors for, 

46 ; ash in oil color, 54. 
Burl walnut, 91. 
Butternut, 129. 

C 

Camel's-hair piped overgrainer, 1. 

Case for carrying tools, 131. 

Causes of cracking in grained work, 

116. 
Ceilings, 102. 
Champs, to put in (quartered oak), 

57- 
Check roller, 21, 30. 
Cherry, 81 ; groundwork for, 81 ; in 

oil color, 82 ; in water color, 83 ; 

mottled, to overgrain, 83 ; mottled 

and overgrained, 84. 
Chestnut, 71. 
Circassian walnut, 93. 



Coats, thin preferable, 13. 

Color, for graining, 13; straining 
before thinning, 13. 

Combing in oil color, 25 ; combing in 
water color, 29 ; combing a back- 
ground for quartered oak, 27, 28. 

Combs, 2 ; bone, 1 ; cork, 21 ; rub- 
ber, 20 ; steel, 20. 

Covering teeth of combs, 26, 27. 

Crayons for light oak and ash, 31. 

Curly birch, 85 ; curly maple, 33 ; 
curly walnut, 91. 

Cypress, 77. 

D 

Dark oak, 54 ; ground-color for, 54 ; 
veins in mahogany, 95 ; veins in 
quartered oak, 59-62 ; veins in 
rosewood, 100. 

" Docked " pencil in bird's-eye maple, 

37- 
Dry colors for graining, 16. 
Dryers in graining color, 13. 



Eminent grainers of the last century, 7. 
English oak, 65. 

Eyes and shadows in bird's-eye maple, 
40. 



Feathered mahogany, 95, 96. 

Fitch tool, 21. 

Flat brush for rubbing in, 2 ; fresco 

bristle liner, 2. 
Floors, 104. 



135 



136 



INDEX 



Fourteen ways of imitating quartered 

oak, 60. 
French walnut burl, 91. 



Grainer, in fiction, the, 118. 

Grainers' combs, 20, 21 ; tools, 20, 21. 

Graining, antiquity of, I ; both sides 
of the same panel, 131 ; colors, 16 ; 
crayons, 31 ; door, quartered oak, 
121 ; on glass, I13 ; over old paint, 
14 ; quartered oak, 58. 

Ground-colors, 11; for ash, 46 ; for 
burl ash, 46 ; for Hungarian ash, 
51 ; for birch (curly), 85 ; for 
cedar, 72 ; for cherry, 81 ; for 
chestnut, 71 ; for cypress, 77 ; 
for mahogany, 94 ; for mahogany 
(white), 45 ; for maple, 35 ; bird's- 
eye maple, 35 ; curly maple, 33 ; 
silver maple, 40 ; for oak, 54 ; Eng- 
lish oak, 65 ; pollard oak, 66 ; root 
oak, 67 ; quartered oak, dark, 54 ; 
quartered oak, light, 54 ; for pine 
(hard or pitch), 75 ; for pine (yel- 
low), 74; for rosewood, 99; for 
satinwood, 42 ; for sycamore (quar- 
tered), 78 ; for walnut, 87 ; black 
walnut, 87 ; Circassian walnut, 93 ; 
curly walnut, 91 ; French walnut 
(burl), 91 ; Italian walnut, 93 ; for 
whitewood, 41; for butternut, 129. 

H 

Hard pine, 75. 

Heart grains, in ash, 77 ; in cherry, 
84 ; in oak, 59 ; in walnut, 88 ; in 
hard pine, 76 ; in yellow pine, 75. 

Heart, or sap, oak, 67. 

High lights in bird's-eye maple, 38. 

Hungarian ash, 51. 



Imitations, 4; of carving, 114; 

mouldings, 114. 
Italian walnut, 93. 



of 



Journeymen, 127, 

M 

Mahogany, 94 ; mahogany (white) , 

95; 

Manila paper for covering a poor floor, 
106. 

Maple, 35 ; bird's-eye, 35 ; curly, ;^^ ■ 
silver, 40. 

Mason pad machine process, 109. 

Megilp, for oil colors, 18 ; for water 
colors, 19. 

Mixing, graining color, 16 ; ground- 
colors, 12. 

Mottlers, 1. 

N 

New methods, 124. 
Notes, 132. 

O 

Oak, 54 ; English, 65 ; graining in 
water color, 67 ; pollard, 66 ; root, 
67 ; quartered, 54. 

Old paint, graining over, 13, 14. 

Old varnish, to remove, 14. 

Overgrainers, plain, 1 ; plain bristle, 
1 ; piped bristle, 1. 



Paint removers, 14. 

Patent graining devices, 108. 

Piped bristle overgrainer, 1. 

Pitch pine, or hard pine, 75. 

Pollard oak, 66. 

Preparing old work for graining, 14 ; 

ground-colors, 12. 
Primary coats, 14. 



Q 

Quantity of megilp, 18. 
Quartered oak, 54 ; sycamore, 78. 



INDEX 



137 



R 
Removing old paint, 14 ; varnish, 14 ; 

graining color from the hands, 132. 
Roller, the check, 30 ; rubber, 109. 
Root of oak, 67. 
Rosewood, 99. 
Rubber combs, 20. 
Rubbing, in graining, 21 ; in oil color, 

21, in water color, 24. 



Sandpapering, 15. 

Satinwood, 42. 

Shading quartered oak, 57. 

Show panels, ill. 

Silver maple, 40. 

Solution for removing figure of oak, 
64 ; to remove varnish or paint, 14. 

Steel combs, 2. 

Stippling for mahogany, 88 ; for wal- 
nut, 88. 

Sunday work, 131. 

Sycamore, quartered, 78. 



Teak, 98. 

Thinners, for oil colors, 175 for water 
colors, 18. 



Thumb nail, substitutes for, in grain- 
ing, 64. 

Tools, for putting bird's-eyes in maple, 
37 ; used by grainers, 20. 

Touching quartered oak with solution, 
64. 

Transfer, paper, 1 10 ; roller, no. 



Varnishing a grained floor, 108 ; over- 
grained work, loi. 

Vinegar, use after rempving old paint, . 
14. 

W 

Walnut, black, 87 ; Circassian, 93 ; 
curly, 91 ; French burl, 91 ; Italian, 

93- 
White mahogany, 45 ; Oregon cedar, 

72. 
Whitewood, 41. 
Wiping out, in oil color, 57; heart 

grains in oil color, 32 ; heart grains 

of oak, 69. 
Wooden wedge, to hold door open, 

132. 



Yellow pine> 74. 



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